The safety of young people remains our number one priority. We regularly ask independent experts in child safety to review our training and safeguarding policy. This is an important step to make sure our processes are kept up-to-date and we’re all doing everything we can to keep all young people safe.
Our Yellow Card is an important resource. Every volunteer must always follow the Yellow Card and you’re expected to share the card with parents, guardians and young people so that everyone is aware of our safeguarding arrangements.
Changes to the Yellow Card from 1 January 2024
In June this year, we explained how we would be updating the Yellow Card based on what we’ve learned from past safeguarding cases. The changes will be:
• The requirement to report any concern directly to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.
• Anyone reporting a concern who has a personal relationship or family connection with those involved needs to step back from the situation and inform the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.
Reporting directly to the UK HQ Safeguarding team
Currently the Yellow Card asks volunteers you to report concerns to your Group Scout Leader or District Commissioner. We’re changing the process to everyone reporting directly to the UK HQ Safeguarding team. This makes sure that we’re aware of concerns as soon as possible and can put measures in place to minimise risks to children, young people and adults at risk.
The UK HQ Safeguarding team will be on hand to provide you with advice, support and guidance from the moment you report a concern. If you inform another member about the concern, then both individuals must then report direct to the UK HQ Safeguarding team.
The UK HQ Safeguarding team will continue to work with local lead volunteers for the vast majority of cases as part of our joint approach to handling concerns. On some occasions, volunteers leading in Groups and Districts may not always be aware of a low-level concerns in their area, such as a welfare issue for a young person or a safeguarding query from a volunteer, but this is no different from the current process the UK HQ Safeguarding team follow.
Updating resources
Due to these changes to the process, we will be updating our:
• Safeguarding Policy
• Yellow card
• Yellow card poster
The NSPCC have also designed a new poster which signposts Childline for the younger sections to contact for support, and we’ve updated the Yellow Card poster, specifically for the older sections and adult volunteers, introducing a QR code making it easier for you to report a concern directly. You will be required to display both the Yellow card poster and the new Childline poster in your meeting place for young people and parents/carers to see.
As part of our commitment to sustainability, we would strongly recommend recycling old versions of the Yellow Card. Please note, that if you are recycling a large quantity of Yellow Cards please make sure they’re not stuck together.
Timings
We know it takes a little time to transition to new procedures and to access the new resources. We will be back in touch with information on how you can view the new resources. Leadership roles at Group, District, County/Area/Region levels will be able to pre-order bulk packs of the cards and posters to distribute to their teams. At this time no one needs to make an order, and we’ll share the pre-order link when it’s available. The resources will be available for free, and there will be a digital alternative available too.
Everyone is expected to follow the new procedures from 1 January 2024.
We know it may take some getting used to, but these changes are crucial to help us act quickly and continue our commitment to keeping almost half a million young people safe in UK Scouts
