Scouts Luton & Flitwick
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Safeguarding

The safety and wellbeing of every young person in our care comes before anything else we do. This page explains what that means in practice, and how to raise a concern if you ever need to.

If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.

For non-emergency concerns about a child’s welfare, you can also contact your local council’s children’s social care team, or the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000.

What we do to keep young people safe

  • Every adult volunteer who works with young people in our district undergoes an enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check before they start, renewed regularly, and completes mandatory Scout safeguarding training.
  • We follow The Scout Association’s Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults (the “Yellow Card”) at every group, section and event across the district — covering everything from ratios of adults to young people, to safe use of photography, to how residential trips are run.
  • Every adult in our district has a personal duty, under the Yellow Card, to report any safeguarding concern — however small it might seem — directly to the Scout Association’s UK HQ Safeguarding Team within 24 hours. Concerns are never just handled locally within the group or district.
  • We follow the Scout Association’s guidance on anti-bullying, online safety and safe use of photos and video of young people.

How to raise a concern

Under the Yellow Card, safeguarding concerns are reported directly to the Scout Association’s UK HQ Safeguarding Team — not to the district. This applies to any concern, no matter how small it seems, whenever it happened, and whether it happened inside or outside Scouts. It must be reported as soon as possible, and always within 24 hours.

  1. If a child is in immediate danger, always call 999 first.
  2. Otherwise, report the concern using the Scout Association’s Online Safeguarding Reporting Form, or call the UK HQ Safeguarding Team on 020 8433 7164.
  3. Outside normal office hours, call the Scout Support Centre on 0345 300 1818, who will put you through to the on-call Safeguarding Team.
  4. A young person who isn’t sure who to talk to can always start by telling a leader they trust — that leader’s job is then to report it onward to UK HQ within 24 hours, not to deal with it themselves.
  5. You can also contact the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 800 5000 at any time.

See also our Privacy Policy for how we handle personal information collected through this website.