Group Subscription Rates
From September 2011 subs for all sections will be £35.00 per child per term.
The letter explaining the reasons for this can be found here, and the Standing Order and Gift Aid forms are here.
In order to reduce the Groups financial and administration overheads, we are also asking that everyone pays subs either annually (£105.00 in September) or termly with £35.00 paid at the first meeting in September, January and following the Easter holiday.
This is to reduce the time leaders spend collecting subs/chasing unpaid subs, and to make financial planning easier for the group.
Payment of Subscriptions by Standing Order
To try and make paying and collecting subs easier still, we are now able to offer parents the option to pay subs by standing order. Unlike a direct debit, a standing order is set up by you, which means that you do not need to give us details of your bank account. A standing order mandate (in Adobe Acrobat format) is available here for you to complete and send to your Bank.
To download the Adobe viewer, please click here.
When completing the form please delete the columns that do not apply to you (ie delete the Cub and Beaver column if you are paying Scout subs) and a separate form is required for each child at the 5th. Ideally we would like all subs paid by standing order, however if you do not wish to use a standing order, subs may be paid by cheque with the cheque sent to meetings in a sealed envelope clearly labelled with your child's name.
If you've any concerns....
We appreciate that for some, particularly those with more than one child at the 5th, paying subs annually/termly might be difficult. We do not want any child to be excluded from the 5th because we are asking for subs in larger, less frequent payments. Therefore, if your financial/family circumstances means you are unable to pay all subs due as annual/termly amounts can we ask that:
- If you wish to pay by standing order, please could you e-mail Helen, our Group Treasurer, so that an amicable and workable solution can be found that is acceptable to both parties.
- If you wish to pay by cheque we will accept part of the termly payment as a post-dated cheque (post date can not be more than two months from start of the term for which subs are in respect of), however we do need to receive the total amount due at the start of each term. For example, if you have 3 children at the 5th we would ask that at the start of September they each pay £87/£29. However, one could bring a cheque dated 1st September, another 1st October and the third 1st November.
If you have any issues relating to the changes to subs please could you discuss them with your child's Beaver/Cub Scout/Scout Leader or e-mail your enquiry/concern to us and either the Group Scout Leader or our Treasurer will pick up your message and reply to you.
Gift Aid
Gift Aid is a government scheme to encourage individuals to give to charities. The Scout Association is a registered charity and therefore is eligible to benefit from Gift Aid. By joining the scheme, the 5th Gosport Sea Scout Group can claim money back from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in respect of the subs that you pay to the 5th in respect of your child/children.
To join the 5th's Gift Aid Scheme the attached Gift Aid Declaration Form needs to be completed by the tax paying parent who pays subs. This form is an official tax form but signing it will not enable us to gain any information from HMRC regarding you, your employment or tax situation. All the information we have about you is what you provide on the form and as you will see the details requested are very basic. In addition to requiring your details, we also ask that you provide us with your child's/children's name(s) and date of birth(s) as this enables us to match the relevant section's subs records with the correct child and the appropriate Gift Aid Declaration.
If you do not pay tax you will not be eligible to join this scheme. Therefore please complete your child's name, your name and address on the form but instead of signing the form please write "Non tax payer" in the signature box.
Please join this scheme, five minutes of your time spent completing the Gift Aid Form will make a significant difference to our funds and what we can achieve as a Scout Group. The basic rate of tax is 20%, so this means that if you give £10 using Gift Aid, it's worth £12.50 to the Group. For donations between 6 April 2008 and 5 April 2011 5th Gosport Sea Scout Group will also get a separate government supplement of 3p on every pound you give. Whilst these amounts might not seem much, it amounts to over £20 per annum per child which is a whopping £160 over the course of a single child's scouting career at the 5th (assuming they join Beavers at 6 and leave Scouts at 14). If every child's subscription is paid through the Gift Aid Scheme it will generate approximately £800 each year for our Scout Group and the more who join the scheme, the more we can claim from HMRC.
The income generated as a result of Gift Aid will enable us to continue with our current activities, replace some of our equipment and resources, and hopefully limit the size of future increases in subs.
Please return your completed Gift Aid Form to your child's Beaver / Cub / Scout Leader as soon as possible.
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