Subscriptions
The payment of Subscriptions is a compulsory condition of being a member of 1st Hart Plain Scout Group.
This subscription covers the annual capitation fee paid to National Scout Headquarters, which includes a comprehensive insurance coverage, the running costs of our building and also the costs of badges and activity resources for each section. All of our leaders and helpers are unpaid volunteers.
Subscriptions are collected via a secure online payment service. Initially you will receive an email advising you that a payment is due. This contains simple instructions to setup your online account. The process takes less than 5 minutes. The same account can be used multiple times, for parents who have more than one child in the Scout Group.
New starters may wish to wait a couple of weeks before setting this up just in case your child decides that scouting is not for him/her.
Non-payments
If the subscription payment has not been paid 2 weeks after the due date, and we have not been contacted by you, then your child will be asked not to attend meetings until the payment has been made. Our system sends out automatic reminders, so you will be aware that you have not paid and be advised of this action.
Event payments
All payments for camps and events are also paid via our online system. When you sign up for an event you are agreeing to pay for the event. A payment date will be set and if you haven’t paid for the event by this date and have not contacted us, we will assume your child is not attending and remove them from the list.
Gift Aid
We are able to claim the tax back on subscriptions, but to be eligible you or your partner must be a taxpayer. When you sign up for the direct debit, you can complete a gift aid declaration at the same time. The money claimed back from HMRC provides an added bonus for the group increasing annual funds by around £1500! This does not cost you anything, so please let us claim the money back otherwise the tax man benefits and this beats fundraising any day!
If you have any queries or problems regarding subs or would like to speak to someone about any issues with paying the subscriptions, please do not hesitate to speak in confidence to either your child’s leader or the Group Scout Leader. We are there to help.