Home Contact role outline (international)
The Licence holder is responsible for organising a nominated Home Contact for their group.
They may wish to nominate several people to take on these responsibilities as it may not be
possible for one person to be available 24 hours a day throughout the residential.
Home Contact Role Summary
More than one home contact may be appointed to share responsibility for the duration of the event. As home contact your
role is to be the point of contact for the named individual (or Licence holder, their assistant or another member of the
volunteering team) in the event of an incident.
You are responsible for passing information both to and from the group and keeping others within Girlguiding informed.
You may also need to contact emergency services and parents.
Volunteers taking on this role must ensure they are familiar with this outline and understand what is expected of them.
They must sign the Home Contact Agreement below to conrm that they have read and understood and agree to perform
this role.
Who can be a Home Contact?
The Home Contact plays an essential part in supporting the group and helping to ensure everyone is kept safe and healthy
and that appropriate safeguarding measures can be put and remain in place, in the event of an accident or incident. They
will hold sensitive personal information about participants whilst performing this role.
It is therefore essential that the home contact is:
• An active member or recognised volunteer with Girlguiding
• Not be related to or has a close personal relationship to anyone in the group
• Someone who can deal with an emergency in a calm and effective manner
• Can commit to being contactable throughout the event 24 hours a day from departure until return to UK (for
International Events)
• Someone who has completed Safe Space level 1 training, as a minimum
A suitable person could be another Leader in the area, a Commissioner, County Residential /International Adviser
For international events we also expect the Home Contact to be:
• Competent: has demonstrated the ability to be effective as a Home Contact in the past or has sufcient relevant
experience and knowledge of the planned activities, the group and the environments in which the residential will
take place to be able to play a supporting role. Competence is not related to age, length of service or position in
the organisation. It is:
– a combination of skills, knowledge, awareness, judgement, training and experience
– is relevant to the specic residential
– is about having a range of experience rather than just having a lot of experience doing one thing
• Accountable: understands what is expected of them and the relevant policies, procedures and guidelines applying
to their role. They are willing to take responsibility for undertaking the Home Contact role
• Condent: able to communicate clearly and remain calm and supportive in the potentially stressful situations that
might arise whilst being aware of and understanding their own abilities, knowledge and limitations.
For International Residential Events, the home contact is an important element of the process for keeping everyone safe
by acting as a central point for the sharing of information.
This role outline is designed to help
Licence holders, Home Contacts and
other volunteers to understand the role
of the Home Contact and what can be
expected of them whilst carrying
out the role.
