Awards and Recognition

Award criteria

At Scouts we want to thank all our volunteers for their contribution to the Scouts – it’s an important way to make sure people stay with us and to recognise their achievements and Good Service awards are one way of doing this.

All Good Service award nominees must:

• Hold a volunteer appointment as a member of the Scouts.
• Have enough service for the award they’re being nominated for.
• Have a valid disclosure (if relevant for their active roles).
• Have not received a Good Service award in the last five years.
• Not already have the award they’re being nominated for.
• Have completed all mandatory training relevant to all active roles (or is within three years of appointment to the active roles). Please note: If the nominee was previously awarded a Wood Badge for the same role as one of their active roles, Compass must be updated to reflect the training of the active role as being up-to-date.
• Have the correct previous Good Service award (if relevant for the award they’re being nominated for).

Learn more about the specific criteria for each Good Service award below.

If an individual does not meet all the necessary criteria for a Good Service award, it may be more appropriate to consider a Commissioner Commendation, Thanks Badge or nominating them for the Chief Scout’s Personal Award.

See the diagram of the Lower Good Service award process enlarged

The decision on if someone should receive one of these awards can be decided locally but is monitored by the National Awards Advisory Group (NAAG).

District Commissioners (and above) can approve:

• The Chief Scout’s Commendation for Good Service
• The Award for Merit

County/Area/Region (Scotland) Commissioners (and above) can approve:

• The Chief Scout’s Commendation for Good Service
• The Award for Merit
• The Bar to the Award for Merit
• The Silver Acorn

If awarded, the decision should be submitted to UK Headquarters using the Good Service award completion form.

Awards are then sent out on a quarterly basis but if there are exceptional circumstances, please make a request to the UK Headquarters Awards Team for the award to be expedited quicker.