Permits

Nights Away Permit Scheme

The Nights Away Permit Scheme is an internal assessment scheme designed to ensure that all those leading nights away events for young people within Scouts have the skills, experience and personal suitability to do so. For more information, please go to the Nights Away section on the Scouts UK website for the most up to date information or contact Andrew Stacey.

Adventurous Permits

The Adventurous Activity Permit Scheme is an internal assessment scheme designed to make sure that all those leading adventurous activities for young people within Scouting have the skills, experience and personal suitability to do so. For more information, please go to the Adventurous Activities section on the Scouts UK website for the most up to date information or contact Andrew Stacey.

What is the process for applying for a permit?

1. Find an appropriate assessor. You may already know an assessor who is happy to complete your assessment – this is fine, simply select them when you apply for your permit. If you need help finding an assessor, please contact Andrew Stacey, NI Team Lead for Adventurous Activities and Permits, who will assign a suitable assessor
2. Log into My Membership on scouts.org.uk, navigate to permits this can be found on the entrance page as ‘Explore Permits’ or in the menu under ‘Programme Support’. For New Application, find the permit you wish to apply for click on the permit name and then click the apply button. For renewal, go to ’My Permits’ > ‘My Active Permits’ > and then select the permit you wish to renew. At the bottom of the page, you will see a button to renew – click this.
3. Complete the application form (as noted within the video or below), selecting the category and type of permit (if applicable). For location, this should be the group/district which you wish to be assessed under – your permit will not be limited to this location, but if will direct your permit application to the right Lead Volunteer. Please complete the form with as much information as possible as it will help the assessor, adding any relevant qualifications e.g., Archery GB Award when applying for Archery permit. When selecting your assessor, please ensure they are aware you are requesting a permit assessment.
4. Your assessor will make contact to discuss how they will assess you; each assessment will be different dependent on the permit you are applying for. The technical assessment will follow the HQ issued checklist, and you will need to demonstrate you are competent in all areas. We’d recommend familiarising yourself with the checklist prior to applying for your permit.
5. Once the technical assessment is complete, the assessor will upload the assessment checklist and complete the relevant sections on the online system. The Lead Volunteer will review and complete their checks before making the final decision.
6. If you have met all the requirements set, the permit will be granted and be visible under ‘My Active Permits’.

How do I apply for a permit?

Process for completing a permit application

Since December 2024, our process for permit applications have changed significantly and it’s important that as much information is added to the membership system when initiating the process.

Start by signing in to scouts.org.uk.

On your welcome page: 

1. Click ‘My membership’.

On the left-hand side menu (if you’re using a phone, click the menu button on the top right):  

2. Click ‘Programme support’.

3. Click ‘Permits’.

4. Click ‘Permit search’.

On the ‘Permit search’ page: 

5. Type the permit and click ‘Search permit activity’, or browse the all permit activities list.

6. Click the permit name.

On the ‘Activity details’ page

7. Click ‘Apply’.

If the ‘Apply’ button is grey and you’re not able to click it, please read the guide on how to renew my permit.

Under ‘Add permit details’:

8. Select ‘Category’, ‘Type’ and ‘Location’ from the dropdown menus.

Under ‘Add health factors and restrictions’:  

9. Type any health factors relevant to the activity and any restrictions wanted into the text boxes.

Under ‘Assessor’: 

10. Select internal or external assessor.

If you’ve selected internal assessor: Select the assessor’s name from the list.

If you’ve selected external assessor: Under ‘Add external assessor detail’, add their details to the fields. Then, tick the box to confirm the assessor meets the requirements.

Under ‘Add qualification’: 

11. If you have any relevant activity specific qualifications, click ‘Add qualification’ and type the name of the qualification, the awarding body and date gained in the text boxes. You’ll be able to upload any supporting documents under the section ‘Supporting documents’.

If you have clicked on add qualification in error, click ‘Delete this qualification’ to continue.

Under ‘Add experience’:  

12. Type a summary of your experience into the text box.

Under ‘Supporting documents’:  

13. If you have supporting documents, click ‘Add document’, type the attachment document description into the box and click ‘Browse’ to upload the document.

If you have clicked on add document in error, click ‘Delete document’ to continue.

At the bottom of the page: 

14. Click ‘Submit’, or ‘Save’ to return to your application within 6 months.

If you’ve saved the application to finish it later, you’ll find your permit application by clicking ‘My in progress permits’, under ‘My permits’.

Contact us:

If you would like more information or support around permits and using the membership system, please contact us;

• Andrew Stacey, NI Team Lead for Adventurous Activities and Permits – andrewstacey@scoutsni.org  
• Scott Robinson, NI Transformation Lead – scottrobinson@scoutsni.org

(Last update: August 2025)