At a meeting of the NC on 21 March a decision was made that the B-PSA WILL NOT restart face to face meetings in England until the date for phase 2 is confirmed, the reasoning behind this will be outlined below. Prior to Phase 2 becoming implemented the NC will issue further guidance to assist you at that point.
In Wales, the current guidance is that from 12 April all children’s services can resume activities.
Coronovirus Control Plan: Alert Levels in Wales – Coming Out of Lockdown (gov.wales)
Please use the following points to help you plan for returning to face to face meetings.
- Outdoor area must be COVID secure, ie. The General Public should not access during the meeting. If using a public park an area will need cordoned off, a churchyard, hall carpark or school playing field would be ideal locations.
- The Group must have completed and had passed a Covid Start up Risk Assessment by Mark Napier This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . All sections of the Group must complete separate Risk Assessments and can cover both outdoor and indoor meetings. (Some Groups produced a start-up RA for one section of the Group, they must now rewrite it for all sections).
- Covid risk assessment to be produced for all section meetings and passed to GSM for approval, (AC can ask to see these at any time).
- Bubbles of 15 plus leaders (leaders should not mix across the bubbles). If more than one bubble, there must be room to meet without the bubbles mixing.
- 2m distancing between everyone in the bubble as much as possible. Leaders must keep 2m distance, if they must go closer, they must be side by side and wear a face visor along with a mask.
- Scouts (10+) upwards must always wear a mask during the meetings.
- Bad weather plans are required for all sessions.
- GSM’s will have to ensure that the leaders all have in date DBS and safeguarding training. First aid certificates have been extended, but if out of date, will need requalified asap once training restarts. Further details will follow as soon as we can, on this.
Important Notice
Our current Insurers (AIM) have advised us, that in line with all other Insurance Companies, Covid19 or any of its variants will no longer be covered under the Public Liability cover we hold with them from renewal on the 1st April 2021.
Therefore, we have decided to err on the side of caution with regards to the start back and potentially align it with the return of the schools after Easter in England as stated above. Hence, the phase 2 return to scouting talked about earlier.
The change in insurance could have extensive ramifications for Groups.
We should all take heed that should a claim be made against a group by an individual for say ‘contracting COVID whilst at Scouts’ it will be down to the Group and ultimately the GSM, to prove that they have been carrying out the necessary checks and abiding by not only our issued guidelines but also those of the NYA and the Government. Therefore, it is more important than ever that all paperwork is kept and accessible by all Leaders at all times.
We suggest that you appraise yourself of the guidelines issued by NYA, B-PSA and the Government.
Please remember to only restart face to face activities if you and your leaders feel safe to do so.
Keep Safe
Covid Team
After the Government’s announcement on the road map out of lockdown and the response from the NYA on Tuesday 2nd March 2021, the following advice is being put out by the B-PSA for Groups in England.
The NYA Has produced the following guidance 1020-NYA-COVID19-V5-final.pdf Please take time to read it,be aware it will be updated regularly. The government has proposed to withdraw the previous four tier process in favour of a national Roadmap approach.
The Roadmap has four steps (although Step 1 has two parts): The government has outlined a four step plan for reducing restrictions across England. In summary:
- Step 1A 8th March School’s return.
- Step 1B 29th March Youth outdoor activities permitted.
- Step 2 12th April Indoor and outdoor activities (indoors 6 max)
- Step 3 17th May Indoor and outdoor activities (no limit on numbers)
- Step 4 21st June all restrictions lifted.
The only date set in stone is 8th March when the schools return, we are still at level red for face to face meetings, so can only meet online. The readiness level will change as and when government advice changes. All thedates are all provisional and can change depending on the situation in England, you are advised not to plan any activities where you have to pay upfront until dates are confirmed.
As most of our leaders and none of the Youth of the Association will not have been vaccinated by step 3, all the current B-PSA Covid rules will remain in place, ie bubbles of 15, 2m social distancing, face masks for Scout Section upwards, and Covid risk assessments for every section meeting.
Please take the time from 8th March to revisit your Groups Covid Risk assessments and update them if required. At the same time if your Group met on Zoom please plan how you are going to get all individuals in your sections to the same level, this is so we do not discriminate those who could not join in online meetings.
In Wales the Government has imposed Alert level 4, which only permits online meetings, no face to face, when this changes we will update the Wessex Area.
If you have any questions contact the Covid Team c/o This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., please do not contact other organisations such as the NYA directly, as we may have imposed extra rules to ensure safety in our many activities.
Keep safe,
Covid Team
- The Government in response to increasing infection ratesdue to a new strain of the Covid Virus, have introduced a new level, Tier 4.
- Government and NYA guidance states that any Groups in Tier 4 area’s CANNOT meet under any circumstance.
- Groups in Tier 1, 2 and 3 areas can carry on meeting as previous guidance.
- Groups in Wales can meet following guidance released by the Welsh government on 18 December see link below.
Have a safe Christmas
Covid Team
References:
Leaving your home and seeing other people: alert level 3 | GOV.WALES
The guidance for Remembrance Sunday changed on 5th November.
Members of B-PSA Groups can attend a service as long as the following criteria are met.
- Only a wreath layer plus leader or a leader on their own can attend.
- Follow the guidance in the above link, especially the 2m distancing.
The organiser should have completed a risk assessment which should be read by all attending before the service.
Any questions please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For all Leaders
After the Government announcement on 31 October about a second lockdown in England, all B-PSA face to face activities will be suspended from 0001 hours Thursday 5th November until Wednesday 2nd December 2020. Online meetings such as zoom can still take place with the appropriate measures in place.
In the last week of lockdown, we will advise Groups if there are any further restrictions to be implemented before reopening face to face meetings on Wednesday 2nd December.
In Wales, Groups will have to comply with local guidance once their current lockdown is lifted.
All Groups who have completed a starting back Risk Assessment will not have to resubmit another one unless something substantially changes such as a change of meeting place.
If anyone has any questions, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
GSMs – for distribution to all leaders
After being approached about permission to take Senior Scouts hiking, the decision was made to say that is currently not allowed for Scouts and Senior Scouts.
There are reasons to support this decision.
- Current guidance from the Government is groups of six can meet outside, for B-PSA this means 5 Scouts / Seniors and one adult supervisor or 4 Scouts / Seniors and Two adult supervisors, if there is more than one group out hiking they would not be able to meet.
- This is then affected by the tier that the Scout Groups area is under, in tier 1 and 2 groups of 6 can meet outside if in tier 3 people can only meet from the same household.
- In Wales you currently cannot meet anyone outside your own household.
- NYA guidance is that outdoor areas are to be covid secure, meaning nobody from outside the Group can access the area, ie marking off an area of a local park or using a playing field.
In the letter B-PSA COVID-19 Starting Back face to face meetings dated 12/9/20 it was stated that we were working on getting section meetings back, not outdoor activities.
The guidance about outdoor activities such as hiking will be reviewed in January 2021 unless there is a big drop in infection rates.
Regards
Covid-19 Team
GSMs – for distribution to all leaders
Since the start of the month some Groups have returned to face to face meetings while others are continuing meeting online or are unable to meet as their halls are closed.
Currently in England NYA Guidance confirms that Medium, High and Very High tiers all fall into the Amber Level of the NYA readiness framework so meetings can take place as long as the COVID secure guidance is followed.
In Wales the Government Guidance is that meetings can take place outdoors in areas of lockdown, and indoors in COVID secure buildings in other areas.
Would any Group that has not been in contact with me, please do so by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with their current status regarding meetings. Please note that no Group should be meeting face to face unless they have had their Initial Risk Assessment checked by myself, Mark Napier.
Currently the numbers of infections across the UK are rising, and there is a Government announcement due next week about children’s services, if it affects our meetings further guidance will be sent out. If you are meeting face to face, a common sense approach must be taken to any changes in guidance/situation and appropriate action taken.
For every session, a risk assessment must be completed, and no session can be run without one. It is the GSM’s responsibility to ensure they are written; these are to ensure the safety of both the children and the leaders attending face to face meetings.
It is great to see Scouting at all levels taking place in these difficult times, please remember we all now need to take ownership of the situation and always err on the side of caution.
Please find below current references.
YITS
COVID -19 Team
For Wales
https://gov.wales/protective-measures-childcare-settings-keep-childcare-safe
The B-PSA’s primary concern is the safety and welfare of it’s members and with the current guidance from the Prime Minister regarding avoiding unnecessary social contact, the National Committee advises all Groups to suspend meetings, outings and camps until further notice.
16th March 2020 at 2240