Nights away or residential events help young people to become resilient. Whether it’s camping, hosteling, sleepovers or bivouacking, a Nights Away experience forms an integral part of Scouting, and are something that every young person should have the opportunity to take part in.
Planning a nights away experience? Don’t forget to submit your nights away notification (NAN) form, at least 7 days before the event takes place.
Frequently asked questions
Who’s approval do I need?
A Nights Away Notification (NAN) Form needs to be submitted to the District Commissioner at least 7 days before your event. Please download the latest version of the form from https://www.scouts.org.uk/volunteers/running-your-section/nights-away-and-camping/nights-away-resources/ every time you need to submit a NAN form and email it to dc@gdscouts.org.uk once completed.
It’s important to note that your event must not go ahead until you have received approval from the District Commissioner.
Who can run Nights Away experiences?
To run a Nights Away experience a nights away permit is required. There are different levels of permit that allow you to take young people on different types of residential experiences. Any leader in Scouts can lead on a Nights Away Event, subject to having the necessary skills and having a leader with a Nights Away Permit present.
What’s the difference between Indoor, Campsite and Greenfield?
There are four categories of permit POR 9.2:
- indoor – for staying in a building that has built in lighting and cooking facilities, toilets plumbed into a waste disposal system (i.e., a cess pit, storage tank or mains drains) and running drinking water
- campsite – for staying at a site that has toilets plumbed into a waste disposal system (such as, a cess pit, storage tank or mains drains) and access to running drinking water
- Green Field – for staying at any site where any of the above facilities do not exist – for example, a summer camp on a farmer’s field
- Lightweight Expedition – for staying at any site for not more than one night before moving on. The core activity is a form of expedition, not residential, and all the equipment is transported with the participants. For example King’s Scout Award or Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards hikes, expedition hikes, canoe expeditions.
What’s a Nights Away Passport?
Nights Away Event Passports exist to enable young people in the Scout and Explorer Scout sections, who are deemed suitably skilled, to undertake a nights away activity as a peer group. Examples of this include patrol camps and expeditions.
Nights Away Event Passports can only be issued by those with a Nights Away Permit and can only be issued to the same level as the permit held, for example someone with a campsite nights away permit can not issue a passport for activities in greenfield areas.
Nights Away Event Passports are only available within the Scout and Explorer Scout Sections, and are only for use with peer led activities. This means that they can not be used for Explorer Scout Young Leaders leading activities for the sections they volunteer with, or for activities where adults will be present with the group. The young person or young people issued with the passport must display appropriate skills to the permit holder in order to demonstrate their ability to safely undertake the proposed activity.
Event passports are only for Scout and Explorer Scout members to participate in peer led activities they cannot be issued to adults.
What is InTouch?
InTouch is the system that helps you to communicate at all Scout activities and events. It’s flexible and lets Units, Groups and Sections work out the best way to keep in touch during these activities.
At any Scouting activity, you will need to make sure that you have an InTouch system in place (POR 7.1). This is to make sure that:
- everyone involved knows how Leaders, participants and people not at the event will communicate
- you have all of the details of who is at the event just in case something goes wrong, and you have a system in place in case of an emergency.
This system is likely to be different depending on what activity or event you are running, and the needs of who will be there. An InTouch system is important so that everyone knows of the process for every Scouting event.
How can I gain a permit?
The nights away permit scheme is an internal assessment scheme designed to ensure that all those leading nights away events for young people within the Scouts have the skills, experience and personal suitability to do so.
To gain a permit you will need to complete an assessment with a nights away advisor. Please get in touch if you’d like to start the process for getting your permit.
The permit scheme
You can find full details of the nights away permit scheme in the factsheets below. These include factsheets for specific roles such as commissioner and applicant.
- Nights Away Permit Scheme (FS120800)
- Nights Away Permit Scheme – Applicants’ guide (FS120801)
- Nights Away Permit Scheme – Assessment guide (FS120802)
- Nights Away Permit Scheme – Commissioners’ guide (FS120803)
- Nights Away Permit Scheme – Nights Away Advisers’ guide (FS120804)
There is also an assessment checklist that the nights away adviser uses to assess any applicants for nights away permits.
There are some FAQ’s available to support nights away.
Does my permit need renewing?
Yes, all Scout Permits (both activity & nights away) need renewing periodically. A permit can be granted for a maximum of 5 years so volunteers will need to be aware of when their permit expires so that they can arrange to renew it in plenty of time!
When you’re ready to renew your permit, please get in touch and we can get the process started.
Do I need a risk assessment?
Yes all Scout Activities including nights away and adventurous activities require a written risk assessment, as per POR 9.1
For more support on writing a risk assessment check out the Scouts website.
