An update on staffing at Girlguiding

A message from Angela Salt, CEO of Girlguiding.

Like many charities, Girlguiding is working to urgently secure our immediate and long-term future and sustainability. This is to make sure that, alongside our dedicated volunteers, we can continue to offer life-changing experiences and support for girls, young women and our volunteers.

Our weekly unit meetings and events at our activity centres have been cancelled. This plus a decline in trading and other income and reduced fundraising activity, means we are estimating losses of between £3-5 million for 2020 at a UK-level. The financial impact at a local level is not yet known.

To reduce the impact of the losses, we have made the very difficult decision to furlough 51% of our staff, and pause major work projects and plans.

Powered by 100,000 volunteers, we support nearly 400,000 girls and young women all over the UK. Our goal is to remain at the heart of local communities and to continue building the confidence, skills and friendships of our girls and volunteers. We’re working with government and other potential funders to minimise the damage of the pandemic to the life chances of children and young people, and to highlight the impact of the pandemic on gender equality.

The guiding spirit is strong nonetheless and last month we launched #AdventuresAtHome, an online hub of activities open to our members and children and young people across the UK to help them continue to have fun, build resilience and support their wellbeing. Volunteers in the UK have also been delivering virtual guiding, keeping our members connected with their weekly unit meetings. We’ll be doing all we can to stay connected in the coming months.

I am thankful to every team member at Girlguiding for their work and for their understanding at this extremely challenging time. I am also thankful to the many volunteers, parents and carers who have taken guiding online and into the home to help us continue to deliver great experiences for girls and young women.

Our member support is still available and you can still contact us by phone or through our contact form.