Behaviour in YFC

Social Events in YFC Allow members to socialise - intergenerational Celebrate achievements and hard work Recognise events in the calendar – Christmas, Halloween, Easter Generate funds

Are YFC social events safe? Under the radar Are YFC social events coordinated well? Are legal responsibilities met? - TENS, Health and Safety, Alcohol selling laws Are safeguarding responsibilities met? - Consent forms, stewards/supervisors Are YFC social events safe?

A Standard for Social events All social events should be planned correctly The correct permissions should be sought – legal and safeguarding Members should know what is acceptable regarding their behaviour Does this differ from county to county?

What's going on next door? Assessing the issues – what would your county do? Divide into 3 groups - Put the 20 behaviour issues into categories of A,B,C depending on there severity – obviously you don't have the full story as these are just statements and actions but have a discussion and see what you think is appropriate and how your county may respond. What we would like to discover here is how counties differ, in the hope of establishing a set standard nationally so if a member behaves poorly in Devon or Cumbria the sanctions will be the same.

Categories of Behaviour Let’s decide! Following your group discussions we are now going to classify the behaviours into A,B or C as a whole group – this will help feed into the work of the behaviour policy

Consequences Verbal warning – recorded on the members behaviour log, stored confidentially A written warning to the member acknowledging unacceptable behaviour, also logged on file Many counties employ a strike behaviour system where a strike would be given for both of the above stages and on the third strike a membership sanction would apply. A ban from a or all social events – generally used if the incident occurred at a social event or involved alcohol A ban from a or all competitions - generally used if the incident occurred at a competitions event A ban from both social events and competitions A ban from all elements YFC membership for an agreed time, the length of time to be determined by the offence committed – common terms are 3 months, 6 months, 12 months and 24 months. A life ban should be avoided as YFC is an organisation for the development of young people and in being so everybody deserves the right to a second chance once any existing bans have been served. *Where the situation is of a serious safeguarding nature a life ban may be legally imposed in order to protect other members of YFC and reduce risks to the organisation.

Behaviour in your county Has your county established any procedures – for avoiding issues or if issues arise? How do you deal with members behaviour? – Is it consistent? Is it fair? Can members appeal? Who supports you to deal with issues? How are punishments put into place? We need to be pro-active, not reactive

Member support It can be difficult to get members to ‘buy in’ to YFC ground rules/standards Help them to understand the risks to themselves and the organisation Help them to plan fun, profitable and safe YFC events Once behaviour procedures are in place they will become second nature