An outdoor adventure centre in Fife used by generations of youngsters has been spared closure amid swingeing cuts at Scouts Scotland.
Around 30 members of staff across the country are to be made redundant after the charity was hit by a £2.3 million loss as a result of Covid-19.
Up to 80% of the charity’s employees had been placed on furlough as the Scouts grappled with the loss of business at its centres, the cancellation of scouting and fundraising events, cancelled bookings for its marquee hire service and dropping investments.
While compulsory redundancies are now unavoidable, Scouts Scotland has confirmed that its national adventure centre at Fordell Firs, at Hillend near Dunfermline, will stay open for the time being – along with its other centres at Meggernie and Lochgoilhead.
A joint statement from Andrew Sharkey, chief commissioner for Scotland, chief executive Katie Docherty and chairman Gordon Robertson confirmed the Scouts will now focus on supporting local groups to support young people to develop skills for life and improve their mental health and wellbeing.
But it added: “We have done everything we can to try to reduce the impact on our finances.
“We moved quickly in March to furlough 80% of our staff, cut all but absolutely essential expenditure, and worked tirelessly to try to secure extra funding.
“Despite this we are still facing a large deficit that we simply can’t absorb, and so we have had to make some incredibly difficult decisions to try to save our charity.
“In June, we made the heart-breaking decision to begin a consultation with our employees about restructuring, which put nearly half of our staff at risk of redundancy across our three outdoor centres and our headquarters teams.
“The consultation has now ended and our board of trustees has met to discuss the outcomes and agree next steps. Through the consultation we have looked at every possible way to reduce the number of compulsory redundancies needed. However, sadly we have no choice but to proceed with the restructuring plan and compulsory redundancies.
“This is such a horrible situation that none of us ever wanted to be in. We are trying to support staff as much as we can, and we have been so grateful to staff for their support, understanding and participation throughout this incredibly difficult process.”
Fordell Firs, which is also the headquarters of Scouts Scotland, is visited by thousands of people every year, and Scouts Scotland say the decision to keep it open has been taken in the hope it can become more operational in the future as restrictions lift.
The statement ended: “Scouting will be needed more than ever as we begin to rebuild society, the work that we all do is vital to thousands of young people across Scotland.
“We are making difficult decisions now to protect the future of scouting in Scotland.”
