Fees and Finance

Why?

This page is exists for two reasons:
  1. The Campermit committee thinks it's important to explain where the costs come from, and why it is more expensive to run a smaller camp.
  2. To explain how you should look at getting support for funding to cover your Base Fees and Course Fees.

Base Fee Breakdown

We expect the base fee to be between £25-30 per person, with the following rough costs apportioned as below.

Where Campsite includes camping fees of £3.50pppn for 2 nights, and costs of renting other buildings. Based on this model we should breakeven with 30 participants.

Course Fees

Please don't be put off the by the large course fees: in the vast majority of cases, you will not be expected to cover them.

The course fees contain only the direct cost to SSAGO to run the courses, and nothing more. These costs include:

  • Assessor's expenses (travelling to/from, camping and food)
  • External assessment fees required to issue you with the qualification
  • Consumables used during the activity (i.e. pellets in shooting, bandages in First Aid)
  • Any necessary equipment hire
  • Hiring out the activity at the campsite
  • A small contingency for unexpected costs

As you can see, these costs grow quite quickly, even when split between 6-12 people (which are numbers we can't increase as maximum numbers on the courses are set by the accreditors); so, naturally, they end up being quite expensive.

Funding your Course

If you want to, there is nothing stopping you funding your own course, but we'd suggest you explore other options to cover at least the course fees.

Most Scout Counties have some form of training fund that will support leaders cover the costs of at least some, if not all, of their training. It's worth checking your County's website or with your DC/GSL to find out as much as you can about it, it's worth paying particular attention to:

  • How much of the cost is covered
  • When you have to apply by
  • Are there any other restrictions on the fund

You could then ask your Group or District to cover the remaining amount of the cost as, ultimately, you are doing this training to provide better experiences to their young people.

Campermit are interested in building up a database of funding opportunities for training in Scouting to support potential future events: if you come across any funding, please send over the details to permit@ssago.org.

If you experience any issues in the booking process, please contact webmaster@ssago.org.