Updates to our young members policy and new procedure

We’ve made some updates to our young members policy and have written a new procedure to go with it. 

Find out more about these changes and the new procedure below. 

What's this policy and procedure used for? 

The young members policy explains who our young membership is open to, and what you need to do when starting young members, including managing waiting lists, and managing inappropriate behaviour from young members – or their parents or carers.  

It also sets out our position on getting involved in family legal disputes. 

We’ve written a new procedure to help you understand how to follow the policy. 

Our review of the policies and procedure 

We held an all-volunteer consultation in October. Thanks to all of you who responded with your thoughts. We used this to make this policy and the new procedure as useful as possible. 

Key changes 

• We’ve made it more relevant to volunteers - we listened to your feedback and made it clearer that the policy is for volunteers about young members.
• We’ve given more guidance about managing inappropriate behaviour or behaviour that challenges, from both young members or their parents or carers. The procedure provides steps you can take to manage these situations and explains how commissioners can help.  
• The procedure also gives guidance on working with parents and carers to keep information up to date on GO and what to do if you’re asked to become involved in a family dispute. 

What do I need to do? 

Make sure you read this policy and procedure. Especially before welcoming a young member to your unit, or if you have to manage inappropriate behaviour from a young member or their parent or carer.