All sign ups are made through our central joining list; this ensures fairness for all. To sign up, use the group locator above to find your nearest group and then complete the application form here. You’ll be asked to select a group, you are able to choose either a specific group or to select our broader options of any North/South group which allow you to express interest in a number of groups at the same time.

We have provided the opportunity to select any North or any South group, these options allow you to let us know that you would be willing to consider a range of local groups and can result in a shorter wait for a place. Our groups are split roughly in half and the application form indicates which groups are included in each option. When this option is selected your child will be offered the first available space for which they are eligible at any one of the groups within that area.

Places are allocated on a simple first come first served basis. Those that are old enough to join and have been waiting for a place longest (based on the timestamp from their application) are allocated a place first.

Unfortunately there is no exact science to how long it may take to allocate a place, this can vary dependant upon many different factors therefore we do not provide estimations. To help to give you an indication, once your child is on our joining list you can check their current position on the list here. Some of our groups are oversubscribed so there may be a wait for a place to become available however for others there may not be a significant wait.

Your child is allocated a place when one of our volunteers requests new members for their group. When this happens our online joining system will automatically email you to let you know. The group will contact you by email shortly afterwards with details of next steps, please ensure that you respond to this email. Groups will only attempt to contact you up to three times, if they have received no response the place will be offered to the next eligible young person.

We’re sorry that your child no longer wishes to join Scouts however please contact us here letting us know your child’s name, date of birth and postcode and we will remove their details. If they have already been offered a place at a group, please just let the volunteer who contacts you know and they will remove their details.

Unfortunately we cannot routinely offer transfers between groups. There are occasions where groups that are very close together geographically may be able and willing to facilitate this but we do not guarantee it. Any child wanting to move groups is welcome to rejoin our joining list however they are not offered priority.