Wait till this hits the streets…
Turns out that cadets/staff will be expected to pay for their bronze pack from 01 Aug 13 and then reimbursed when they complete the award; decision made at HQAC and ACMB level.
Okay, some people may agree with that but my question is will HQAC reduce the subs payment as this was raised a few years ago to allow for free bronze books for all cadets :whistle:
Seems sensible to me - its a massive waste of money given the level of non-completions. Of course they won’t reduce subs, they aren’t daft you know!
I had the same thoughts. Still, the subs aren’t that high in comparison to some other youth courses but I agree they should be reduced back down.
The idea is sound - it makes sense to offer an incentive and stop the waste of money that is people getting a book and not doing anything with it.
Hurrah’s, thank goodness someone has finally decided to do what in fact I had suggested when I was Staffs Wing DofE Officer a few years ago when they were offered ‘paid for’ by the GPF. So many Bronze participants do not complete their awards for whatever reason no matter how hard the staff try to encourage them.
Full reimbursement at Silver and Gold too
This is churlish teddy chuck and direct contradiction of the cadet CV.
When they look at the number of non-completions do they do a proper analysis as to why they don’t complete? The report that came out a while ago had some of the laziest data I think I’ve ever seen presented.
I know at least 3 cadets who have completed levels after leaving the Corps, I was more than happy to sign bits off.
As for subs take by HQAC, no chance of it being reduced. It’s like expecting petrol to be made cheaper just because the oil price drops.
Wing and Regional DEA Officers harp on about this being a “core activity” and complain that not enough people are ordering packs. How is this going to help that situation?
Yes it will provide an incentive for those who have paid for a pack to complete the award, but I can see the number of packs being ordered going down and DEA Officers getting more annoyed.
It doesn’t exactly break the bank for individuals to pay their own DofE fee,
It might also incentivise the Cadets to actually log onto edofe and enter some info. That is the biggest problem I face with them.
Knowing that some schools charge £250 (both state and independent) for the DofE I don’t see charging for a pack as an issue. We’re going back to the way before free packs but now with the benefit of refund on completion.
£250.00… Thats peanuts compared to what some AAPs charge for the expedition section alone!!!
Some of our local schools are charging in the region of £100 for a Bronze exped. I was amazed!
Peak Pursuits who are (arguably) the best known of the AAPs (think back page of the DofE Magazine).
charge £180.00 + VAT (£216.00) for their Bronze Exped Package which is
this doesn’t include transport, tents, stoves etc etc, which the school or pupils have to fund themselves. Word on the street is that they’re pretty busy too!
I would hope that it covers the expedition as well, as the base cost of the bronze pack is £15: http://www.dofe.org/en/content/cms/doing-your-dofe/costs/
Our ACF county charges £16 currently - I assume the extra £1 is for admin or something.
I fully support this recent change. We were throwing money away by paying for the bronze books as the proportion of books issued to those actually converted to awards was not anywhere near 100%
DofE should not be a “Core” activity or a prerequisite for that pointless Cadet CV - participation is meant to be voluntary and the ATC seems to have forgotten this in recent years. However we should be strongly encouraging cadets to participate and sharing resources as required to make the expeditions possible.
We offer extraordinarily good value for DofE, though there does seem to be a tendency to drag it out a bit for one reason or another. Actually purchasing the book should help to build a little commitment from the participants while actually making the DofE stats more meaningful, with the incentive of a refund once complete.
I am quite happy for the D of E award to be paid for up front, but I can’t understand why the cost continues to rise at such a high rate when everything is all online based now with no more paper books.
MG: something which no doubt many of us have asked ourselves and one which someone here ought to be able to find the answer to. 
IT Infrastructure costs??
Really, I think at £12 a month they are high in comparrison to our local ACF 50p a night.
[quote=“pEp” post=8997]I had the same thoughts. Still, the subs aren’t that high in comparison to some other youth courses but I agree they should be reduced back down.
The idea is sound - it makes sense to offer an incentive and stop the waste of money that is people getting a book and not doing anything with it.[/quote]