What we're working on to improve volunteers' experiences

Last updated: 4 September 2024

Girlguiding is powered by volunteers who deliver unforgettable experiences to girls across the UK.  

Our strategy commits us to making volunteering a more rewarding and flexible process. And we know from our impact and experience survey that we’ve got lots of work to do.  

We need to make lots of our day-to-day processes easier and more straightforward, so our volunteers can get back to doing all the fun things we love about guiding. Volunteers have busy lives, and give lots of time and energy to make guiding happen. So it’s important we focus on making admin easier and saving volunteers time.  

Here’s an overview of what we’re working on in 2024 to improve volunteers’ experiences of everyday guiding. It doesn't cover everything we're working on. But hopefully it gives you some insight into what’s coming up and the positive change we’re working to deliver. 

Getting permission to take girls away 

What we’ve done 

• We've introduced new information and consent forms and new starter forms.  

In July this year we updated our new starter forms and information and consent forms to improve volunteers’ experience using them.

We also updated our getting parent or carer consent guidance to make it easier for volunteers and girls to have fun local adventures during unit meetings without the need for additional paperwork. Volunteers can now start and/or end their unit meetings somewhere local to their usual unit meeting place without needing to use an information and consent form.

Parents and carers of girls in your unit need to have signed a December 2023 or later version of our new starter form. Or for parents and carers who have already filled out a new starter form, you can download this one-page consent form (.docx, 239kB) and send to parents and carers to get blanket consent for short trips in the local area during unit meetings. 

Take a look at our getting parent or carer consent guidance for all of the information you need. You can find the latest versions of our forms here.

What’s coming up 

• Adding consent forms for events onto GO. 

We’re also working on adding consent forms for events onto GO. This should reduce the amount of forms you need to print off and send to parents or carers. Parents or carers will be able to log directly into GO, fill in the consent form themselves - taking the responsibility for gathering this information off your plate. Eventually, we hope to have all our consent forms in one centralised and digital place on GO. Timings for this are dependent on testing, but we’re hoping to release both these updates over the summer. 

Risk assessments 

What we've done

Last year we created some pre-filled risk assessment templates to help make things easier. They're pre-filled with all the foreseeable risks you need to be aware of, so that they're much easier to use and complete than the blank forms. You may have already used the ones for unit meetings, pregnancy, or properties, but we also have a few more in the works. 

In September 2024 we released new pre-filled risk assessment templates for adventurous activities (at and away from the normal meeting place), residentials and international trips. Thank you to our wonderful volunteers who helped us test these templates!

What's coming up

We're working on a pre-filled risk assessment for large scale events, and a contingency planning resource to help you expect the unexpected. Keep an eye on your inbox for more information. 

A safe space  

What's coming up

Since its launch in 2017, we’ve received lots of feedback from volunteers on our a safe space training, on what works and what doesn’t. One thing you told us is that the multiple renewal dates can be overwhelming, making it confusing to know which courses you need to do. We’re updating the training, so that we can make improvements to help volunteers. Keep an eye out for news on this later this year. 

Digital improvements 

What we’ve done 

• Launched new process for logging into GO or the learning platform. 

In April this year, we introduced a new process for logging into GO or the learning platform. Now, you’ll be able to use the same set of login details (email address and password) for both systems. This should save you the bother of remembering 2 different passwords!

The new process is similar to what you might have come across when logging into your email account or bank – as well as a password, we also ask you to verify your identity using email, text, voice call or authenticator app. So no more need to email our membership systems team because you’ve forgotten the answer to the authentication question you set ages ago!  

• Continuous improvements and updates to GO. 

Alongside fixing bugs and errors, the team have been at work on the below updates to our membership system GO. These are now live:

1. Improvements to our REN forms.
2. New tabs to make it easier for unit leaders to get contact details for their unit and view past members.

What's coming up

Here’s an overview of some of the updates we’ve got planned to our membership system GO over the next few months: 

1. Managing consent for events from parents within GO. 
2. Simplifying the move to unit helper when young leaders turn 18.
3. Continuing to fix bugs and issues to make it easier to use GO. 

• Improving Girlguiding’s technologies.

In order to keep helping all girls know they can do anything, we need to make sure that everyone in guiding is supported by brilliant technology. That’s why we’re starting a long-term project to ensure that volunteers, girls, parents, carers and Girlguiding staff can all enjoy smooth and efficient technologies. 

This work will be made up of lots of smaller projects, and each one will focus on improving an element of Girlguiding's technologies – things like the websites and online systems you use as part of day-to-day guiding. It’s all part of the work we’re doing to make the volunteer experience simpler. We’re just getting started on this, but we’ll keep you in the loop with regular updates to this page, as well as through our newsletters and blogs.  

Recruiting and welcoming new volunteers 

What we’ve done 

• Updated and simplified guidance. 

We’ve already updated the guidance on our website about recruiting and welcoming new volunteers. We’ve removed the numerous (slightly confusing!) resources we had available and aimed to clarify the process into 4 simple steps.  

What’s coming up  

We’ll be continuing to look at the whole joining process for volunteers over the rest of this year and next. We want to keep simplifying the process and supporting the recruitment of more volunteers. Stay tuned for more updates on this. 

Verifying IDs for disclosure checks 

What’s coming up   

We’re improving the DBS (disclosure and barring service) check process for volunteers in England and Wales. New and existing volunteers will be able to use digital ID verification instead of needing to meet an ID verifier in person.  

This will mean volunteers wanting to join Girlguiding will have a quicker, smoother and more accessible recruitment journey. It’ll also reduce the admin burden on ID verifiers in England and Wales. 

This new process won’t be mandatory - volunteers will still have the option to meet with an ID verifier in person if they’d prefer.

Questions

Any questions or concerns about any of the above projects? Perhaps you’re keen to know more about a particular project or how you can get involved? Email your queries to [email protected] and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.