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 First aid certificates have been extended, but if out of date, will need requalified asap once training restarts.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