Making a complaint about Scouting

Formal complaints should be made in writing (physically or digitally) wherever possible to the most appropriate Lead Volunteer or Team Leader. This could include the Group Lead Volunteer, District Lead Volunteer, County Lead Volunteer or Regional Lead Volunteer. If you do not know the name and / or contact details of who to raise the complaint to, please contact the Scout Support Centre. 

Complaints should ideally be made on the Complaints Template.

The complaint should include:

• Complainant’s full name.

• Complainant’s contact details.

• How the complainant would like to be contacted in relation to the complaint.

• Complainant’s relationship to the Scouts e.g. member or parent.

• A summary of the complaint and what they think went wrong, including dates and times or any reported incidents.

• Clear and concise statements of what they would like to be investigated.

• Details of any informal resolution that has been taken so far to try to resolve the issue.

• Details of what they would see as an acceptable outcome.

• Details of any formal concerns already raised in any part of Scouts under any of the policies.

Scouts’ complaint template asks that complaints be kept to no more than 1,000 words in length and complainants are encouraged to keep within this limit. Supplementary documentation may be requested at a later stage as part of the investigation process.

Full information here