Scout SuiteHow-to guide
Using the family portal
Once a leader has invited you as a primary contact, everything for your children sits in one place: upcoming events to sign up for, what's due, Direct Debit, Gift Aid, consent, details, and the badges they've been awarded.
Watch this on its own pageAccept the invitation
A leader sends an invitation to the young person's contact. Accept Invitation, then sign in or create an account if you don't have one. The link lasts 7 days. After it links, Go to Family Portal takes you in. From then on, signing in takes a parent straight to the portal, and Family Portal is in the header.
If you're only a parent, and not a volunteer anywhere, the header doesn't show the group switcher, and the account menu leaves out My Groups, My Districts and My Counties. Everything you need is in the portal. Once you also volunteer somewhere, they come back.
Already signed in, or the email's link has run out? A new invitation also shows at the top of the Family Portal with an Accept button, as long as it was sent to the email address on your account. If nothing is listed and no invitation is waiting, a leader still needs to invite you: that's Getting parents online. Signing up on a waiting list form doesn't open the portal on its own.
Sign up for an event
Each young person's card sits at the top of the portal, already open, and Upcoming events lists anything their section has opened up for signup. Sign up answers whatever the leader's asked and captures consent for that event as part of the same form. If the event needs a consent you haven't given yet, photos for example, it's listed on the form: tick it to give it and sign up in one go. If there's a cost, Pay now appears on the signup straight after; if the event's already full, it goes to the waitlist automatically.
When the leaders have added a logo or picture for an event, it shows next to it, so you can spot your camp at a glance.
Pay what's due
Below your young people, Outstanding invoices lists subs, camps and activities that have been sent and aren't fully paid. View invoice opens the actual invoice as a PDF, so you can see what it's for before paying. Pay by card takes you to a card payment page. If Direct Debit is active for that group, Pay by Direct Debit is there too; otherwise you'll see Set up Direct Debit first.
A camp or trip only appears here once you've signed up (or a leader's sent an invoice directly). How leaders set that event up is in Running an event; how they generate subs invoices is in Collecting subs.
Set up Direct Debit once
The Direct Debit card only appears once one of your groups has set Direct Debit up, and it's per group. Set up Direct Debit walks you through it; when it's done you'll see Ready to use, and future due invoices can be collected without another payment link. You can Cancel Direct Debit later unless a collection is already in progress.
No Direct Debit card means none of your groups has set it up. That's a leader setting, not something you can turn on from here.
Declare Gift Aid yourself
The Gift Aid card is per group. If the group is registered, Declare Gift Aid asks for your name, home address and postcode, and a confirmation that you're a UK taxpayer. Once that's in, the group can claim Gift Aid on your donations, you don't need a leader to type it in for you.
If the card says the group hasn't registered for Gift Aid yet, that's a leader setting. How the treasurer then puts donations into a claim is Claiming Gift Aid.
Keep each child's record up to date
Each young person's card shows their attendance as a percentage, for example 92% attendance, over the last 12 months. Present or late counts as attended, excused absences aren't counted either way, and meetings where nobody took the register are left out. Hover over it to see the numbers behind it. Edit details is where you update medical information, your own contact details, and How you pay subs, from the options your group offers (in full as it falls due, each term, monthly or weekly). Consents on the card starts closed, with how many you've given, for example 3 of 5 given. Open it to see each consent your group asks for, data processing, photos and so on, as Given or Not given, and Give or Withdraw any of them. Those are standing consents, not a signature for a specific camp.
Ask to add another contact
Under Other contacts on Edit details, Ask to add a contact, such as a grandparent, with their name, relationship and mobile. It goes to the leaders, who check it before it's added; until then it isn't a contact anywhere. You'll see Waiting for a leader, then Added or Not added.
The young person's leaders get an email as soon as you ask, and it's listed at the top of their Young People page under Contacts waiting for approval until someone checks it.
Whether someone is authorised to collect, and whether they have parental responsibility, are shown on your own details but only a leader can change them. That protects families where parents are separated.
See awarded badges, and where they go on the uniform
View badges is a read-only list of badges already awarded, each with its picture so you can tell which is which. Uniform designer opens the uniform picture so you can see where they sit. Progress towards a badge that isn't awarded yet isn't shown here.
People
More in this topic
Waiting lists, parents, moving on, and Explorer Units.