Scouts helps young people step up, speak up and dream big.
We’re the UK’s largest youth movement, supporting nearly 450,000 young people aged 4-24 to gain skill for life and find space to belong.
Everyone’s welcome here: all genders, faiths (including no faith) and backgrounds, and we’re proud to be part of a global family of 60 million Scouts.
For nearly 120 years, Scouts has created opportunities for young people to have fun, embark on new adventures (especially in the outdoors) forge new friendships, and support their communities. They do this by taking part in an exciting programme with opportunities for everything from coding to kayaking, emergency aid and international travel. We help them believe in themselves and find their place in the world. We help them find their future.
Our formula is simple: to offer affordable activities, usually weekly, for young people in safe, inclusive local spaces. We prioritise opening new groups in disadvantaged areas where we know we can make the most difference to young people. Over the past decade we’ve open more than 1,300 new groups in the 30% most deprived part of the UK, including communities new to Scouts.
Scouts is highly trusted. In a 2025 survey of 2,000 GB adults, conducted by YouGov, 86% of all adults, and over 90% of parents, say they trust Scouts. Everything we do is guided by our values of integrity, respect, care, belief and cooperation.
Open to All
We’re committed equity, diversity and inclusion, and know we can always do more to better reflect the communities we serve. We are actively working to achieve this aim.
Powered by Volunteers
Scouts is made possible by a team of nearly 150,000 adult volunteers. Many of these deliver activities directly to young people; others give support in equally vital roles, from volunteer managers to trustees and fundraisers. Our 800,000+ parents and carers are part of Scouts too, with many volunteering as helpers and behind the scenes.
Where We Are Today
Now is a time of significant change and renewal for Scouts.
2026 sees the launch of Scouts new nine-year strategy, helping us grow, become more inclusive and support our volunteers inspire more young people.
We’re fortunate to have strong support from our Patron: HM King Charles III, our Joint Presidents, HRH The Princess of Wales and HRH The Duke of Kent, alongside Chief Scout, Dwayne Fields.
Our new Chair will lead our talented Board, and work with our volunteer UK Leadership Team, led by UK Chief Volunteer Carl Hankinson DL, and our staff Executive Leadership team led by CEO Aidan Jones OBE, to shape Scouts. Together they will be support the delivery of our new strategy to 2035.
Demand for Scouts is at a record high, with 107,000 young people on our waiting lists.
Scouts’ membership is growing, but we still need to do more and especially recruit more adult volunteers to welcome all those who wish to join.
Much of this is driven by the growth of Squirrel Scouts for 4-6 year-olds which we launched across the UK in 2021 to support the early years children. Through games, outdoor play and storytelling, we help our youngest members get the best possible start in life. We now have over 16,000 Squirrel Scouts, across more than 1,600 Dreys, with a quarter of these in areas of deprivation.
Volunteers are fundamental to our success. That’s why we’ve prioritised support for them, including new digital tools to manage membership and learning, a new volunteering culture, more welcoming language and a teamed-based volunteering approach. All this has made volunteering at Scouts easier, more welcoming and more rewarding.
Our Recent Successes
- 7% growth in numbers of frontline volunteers, and an additional 1,240 more young people aged 4-18 joining this year.
- £3.5 million donation from Omaze, The Million Pound House Draw, and £500,000 secured from the People’s Postcode Lottery
- Six Scouts Groups awarded the King’s Award for Voluntary Service – the equivalent of an MBE
- 500 Scouts attending the 16th World Scout Moot in Portugal, an international gathering for 18-25 year olds in Scouts
- Involvement with State Visits, including support for the King at Windsor Castle in December 2025, and HRH The Princess of Wales in November at Frogmore Gardens.
- Award winning fundraising, communications, volunteer and digital teams.
- Volunteer Team of the Year (Third Sector Awards 2023)
- Corporate National Partnership Champion (Charity Times Awards 2024)
- Most Innovative Use of Data Analysis to Drive Insight (Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s Insight in Fundraising Awards 2024).
- Best Community Involvement during a CSR Programme (Corporate Engagement Awards 2024)
- Fundraising Team of the Year (Charity Times Awards 2024 – Highly Commended)
- Charity Collaboration of the Year for The Big Help Out (Charity Times Awards 2023)
Continual Learning and Improvement
We’re committed to keeping our young people safe.
We continue to learn lessons from the 2024 inquest into the death of an Explorer Scout at the Great Orme, Wales in 2018. Throughout 2025 we have implemented a programme of change, responding to our commitments in our response to the Prevention of Future Deaths Notice. Having recently published the final report, we are now looking ahead to maintain our commitment to continually learning and improving.
We are also mindful to try to support the small number of our members who have had adverse experiences in Scouts and are committed to learn from these.
Our Safety Committee, a sub-Committee of the Board, brings leading safety experts from outside our movement, to enhance our work on keeping people young people and adult volunteers safe.
Stabilising Our Finances and Reshaping Our Team
During 2025 we’ve restructured our national staff team to balance costs with ambition and to make the most of the incredible skills across our volunteer and staff network. While this has meant some staff redundancies (including voluntary redundancies) to enable changes, it has created a new and more efficient national team with a smaller staff establishment, and giving us a strong foundation for balancing our budgets for the long term.
Looking Ahead
Work is advancing to launch our next strategy which will run from 2026 to 2035, and we are fully engaged in thinking and planning for the future.
We’ve consulted widely with our movement, including thousands of young people and volunteers. Along with external input, the outcomes will help shape the final strategy, with implementation commencing in early 2026.
Alongside this, we are reviewing our governance structures and functions, planning new adventures like a contingent of Scouts heading to the World Scout Jamboree in Poland in 2027, and refreshing our Explorer Scouts programme for 14-18 year olds from September 2026.
Scouts is a movement, which means we’re always ready to change with the times, while staying true to our values and core aim of supporting young people, inspiring a new generation with skills for life. Our new chair will have a key role in helping us to realise our ambitions for the future, through strategy implementation, improving our governance, engaging more with the communities and in supporting our movement digitally.