UKH

Morning all, I am an ML, I usually work on DofE. I've been asked to take out a group of home-schooled under-18s on a navigation day in the Brecon Beacons which is an area I know well. I don't have an AALA licence so I appreciate that, as I'm being paid, all under 18s will have to be accompanied by a parent or guardian. That has been agreed to. 

There are eight young people wanting to come along. I take out groups of 8 on navigation days, I'm comfortable with that ratio. But now I have 8 adults with me as well. I presume I will be responsible for them also? It's starting to look like a bit of a pain.

Anyone else been in this situation? Thoughts? I wonder if I need another ML or just sack it...

In reply to DotPilley:

You'll definitely be responsible for the adults too...

I would want a second staff member with those numbers. Don't know what your current insurance setup is, but you'd want employer's liability insurance if employing someone else.

In reply to jezb1: thanks for that. Good advice. I’ve spent the morning thinking and researching and I think I’m going to downgrade the walk and I’ve also got the option of working under someone else’s AALA license 👍🏻

In reply to DotPilley:

Or just stay outside of licensable terrain....

"Trekking is journeying on foot, horse or pedal cycle or skiing over terrain which is moorland or more than 600 metres above sea level; and from which it would take more than 30 minutes travelling time to reach any accessible road or refuge; but it does not include skiing on a prepared and marked-out ski-run.

The most familiar trekking activities include hill walking, mountaineering, fell running, orienteering, pony trekking, off-road cycling and off-piste skiing."

In reply to DotPilley:

Your potential group size of 16 is far too big to manage effectively - you'll be stopping for someone to have a piss every 10 minutes for a start.  For example, UK Scouting rules state group size in wild terrain should be between 4 & 7 - when you get to 8 you split into 2 groups of 4.  So probably your best option would be to split the activity over two occasions or leaders, each with 8 participants.

In reply to Toerag:

I'd agree on the group sizes.  The reason Scouting has that restriction is that you get confusion about who is responsible for who in a large group, and that has caused deaths in Scouting before when the rules were not there.  And with parents involved there is going to be *even more* confusion than if it was just a big group of kids.

OTOH if you're sticking with lowland paths away from significant hazards, then it might not be too much of an issue, though traipsing through farms with a group of 20-odd is a *bit* antisocial.