Good morning, has anyone or does anyone charge a “joining fee”?? Never known any SQN to do so, but hearing it more and more…
My squadron doesn’t, you just pay £13 every mouth from the month you join. The way I see it is if you need more money then why don’t just up subs, rather than charge all the newbies more who may not even stay.
We used too, but that was when we sourced greens and boots for the Cadets normally at a slight loss to the squadron
We don’t even charge subs for the first month. I wonder how a joining fee would be justified?
I’ve heard of a few sqn’s charging a joining fee that covers a sqn polo, Bronze DofE costs (registration, campsite, food etc), First Class cadet resource book etc
That’s bassicly what my squadron does, because they say all that stuff is optional but not really, as you pay for it separately.
I’ve know Units charge “Uniform Deposits” I also know of a Squadron that used to charge a “Joining Fee” which covered Squadron Polo & Sweatshirt.
Not aware of any units that still do so though.
I know one WExO (very) recently went a little bit apoplectic when he found out some Sqns in his Wing were doing this, and sent a strongly worded emails to all OCs saying it must stop with immediate effect…
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We dont.
But I do know of a few in my wing who charge on starting the first months subs up front along with dofe fee and one also charges £5.00 towards sqn polo cost.
Dont really see it as an issue.
Might be if the fee was £100 and wasnt directly paying for stuff.
But if it’s reasonable and merely covers the cost or just a proportion of the stuff cadets get on joining then no issues.
Quite rightly too, it’s not like there is any need to reissue part worn uniform these days and most uniform that comes back isn’t fit to be reissued anyway.
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To be clear.
Deposits, fees, extra money for uniform, is a no no.
But asking for cost covering or contribution toward a Sqn polo or similar is not (in my book at least)
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Daily reminder that DofE registration costs can be claimed back from HQAC.
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Only on completion of the award.
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Yeah, I should have added that, ta 
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I don’t understand charging for DofE in a joining fee. Most cadets join at 12-13 in Year 8. They can’t start DofE until a year later.
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Also DofE is voluntary, don’t get me wrong we get 90% or above take up Bronze but we always have 1 or 2 who are already doing it through school.
Just reporting what I’ve seen, not what I do.
We issue polos and pay from sqn funds on the premise that a couple of month’s subs pays for it. The cadets can keep them when they leave. Also the new cadets feel more like they are members of the sqn, before they get a uniform.
IMO a joining fee implies something more than we are or offer.
And rightly so, too.
We charge a uniform deposit which covers DPM/MTP as that is owned by the contingent but issued to every cadet on joining.