Getting your Nights Away Approvals through the first time

There are several common reasons that a Nights Away Approval (NAN) may be rejected.

    1 Missing documents
    If documents are missing a NAN cannot be approved. You should provide:
    • Risk assessments including campsite general risk assessment and activity risk
    assessments.
    • InTouch information.
    • 3rd party risk assessments.
    These can either be attached as additional documents or referenced in your main risk assessment
    with links if they are downloadable from a website.

    2 DBS or Mandatory training expired.
    For all members attending your camp, a DBS, safety and safeguarding training MUST be in date
    to be able attend. Non-members only require a DBS. However, it is recommended (not
    required) that they do at least the safeguarding training.
    While current first aid is not required to hold a Nights Away Permit (NAP) or run a camp, you
    must have someone with current first aid on camp, for larger camps your risk assessment will
    determine the minimum number of qualified first aiders you need. The NAN will be rejected if this
    is not the case.

    3 Only one nights away permit holder.
    While it not a requirement that there is more than one NAP on camp, as stated in the “Nights
    Away Answers” in the Scouts website, if you only have one permit holder, your risk assessment
    MUST state precisely what actions will be taken if the permit holder has to leave camp in an
    emergency. The NAN will be rejected if this is not in the risk assessment and you only have one
    NAP.
    A statement along the lines of ‘We will do our best to try and find a NAP holder to take over’ is
    not acceptable. If you are going to have someone come to camp and take over, they must be
    named with contact details in your risk assessment and they must know they are on standby and
    are ready to come if there is a phone call. Permits and DBS etc need to be checked for this
    individual to make sure that they would be able to take over responsibility for the camp if needed.
    Remember, a ‘standby’ permit holder does not have to be from your own Scout Group. Do not be
    afraid to ask around. We have a District Service Crew that is full of people with nights away
    permits.

    4 List of leaders doesn’t match the number of leaders on the form
    You must list the names of all the leaders that are attending your camp and this must match the
    number of leaders declared on the form. If you cannot see the names of the adults that you want
    to add in the dropdown list you will need to ask them to check and edit their privacy and visibility
    settings.
    Once you have submitted your nights away
    You must check the membership system to see whether you NAN has been approved.
    If your NAN has been rejected for any of the reasons above it will be added to the Approvers
    comments box.
    The new system does not send emails or notifications telling you about a NAN being approved or
    rejected. Leaders are responsible for checking the status of NANs they have submitted.
    If a camp goes ahead without an approved NAN, the rules are that the permit MUST be suspended
    immediately and then investigated before a decision is made to cancel the permit or reinstate it.
    Nobody wants to do this, so please make sure that you check the status of the NANs and take action
    if that is what is requested.
    Our Nights Away Approver, Leslie must go into the system daily to check and review a vast number
    of NAN applications. He does not have the capacity to let people know their NAN has been
    reviewed or to spend time chasing people to resubmit.

    5 Emergency Procedures / Communication
    If an individual is appointed as the ‘InTouch’ point of contact, they must be a full adult member of The Scout Association. (POR 7.1.1.1.b).
    This will be checked as part of the nights away approval.

    FAQs

    What happens if I cannot submit my NAN at least 7 days in advance?

    If there is a reason you might not be able to submit a NAN in the ‘at least 7 days in advance’
    timeframe, please call Leslie directly. We do not want to block a camp because you were late
    submitting a NAN, if Leslie knows it will be arriving a day late, he can prioritise checking it etc. and
    make a note on it when approved that it was given “permission” for a late submission.

    My NAN does not have any comments added for either an approval or rejection?

    Leslie will aim to process NANs as quickly as possible – usually within 2 workings day. If Leslie has
    not responded (approval or rejection) within a couple of days, please email him
    leslie.button@suttonscouts.org.uk. We have had several instances where a NAN has disappeared
    from the system.

    I cannot find all the leaders attending to add them to the application

    If you cannot see the names of the adults that you want to add in the dropdown list you will need to
    ask them to check and edit their privacy and visibility settings. Once complete you will be able to
    find them and add them to the NAN.

    How do I upload revised documents when resubmitting a NAN?

    We have found that if you upload the document with the same name as the previous one it
    sometimes will be the original document submitted again, not the revised one. We recommend that
    you change the name of the document slightly e.g. add v2 to the end of the filename.

    How do I know that the NAN has been approved?

    Please check the Approver comments box – a comment such as ‘good to go’ will always be added to
    confirm that approval has been given. Please check comments box carefully for any further
    recommendations.

    How do I know that a NAN was rejected?

    Notes will be added to the NAN section Approver comments box to explain what needs to happen
    to resubmit the NAN. Please do not email Leslie to find out why.