Campaigns
The Scouts Association: Don’t Raise our Rents!
Scout groups play a valuable and active role in society. Each year Scout volunteers give over 37 million hours of their time to their communities. However, public spending cuts are undermining the value of our contribution and threatening our future.
As budgets are squeezed, councils plan to increase the rent and rates paid by some Scout and Guide groups. Many of the proposed new rents and rates are inconsistent and simply not fair. If groups can’t afford the increase, they may have to resort to refusing new members, reducing activities or even shutting completely.
Join the Don’t Raise our Rents! campaign to protect Scouting in your area.
Why?
Voluntary organisations, like the Scouts, do not cost the taxpayer – raising our rents not only threatens the long term viability of Scouting, it contradicts the idea of an active civil society.
Scouting embodies what the government is looking for in an active civil society – young people involved in Scouting are twice as likely as other young people to volunteer elsewhere in their local community. We should be celebrating this excellent work, not putting it at risk!
Scouting is cost effective – for the same amount of money spent on one two-month programme of National Citizenship (a government voluntary programme for 16 year olds), we can put three young people through Scouting activities for an entire year! This represents great value for money.
Remember, we are not asking government to give us money – we understand that cuts have to happen. We are simply asking councils not to exploit Scout Groups as an easy target. We know our members are not a soft touch!
- Website: www.dontraiseourrents.org
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Dont-Raise-our-Rents/186023074766524
- Twitter: @scoutcitizen
- Email: campaign@scouts.org.uk
