Everyone who helps run your group needs a login, and most of them need a slightly different level of access. This article covers the two main roles you choose from, the three extra permissions you add on top, and how to add, edit and remove people.
Where to find this
Go to Settings → Users. The User Management card is where you add people, change roles, set section access, and remove anyone who has left. Only Admins can see it.
The two main roles
When you add someone, you pick one of two roles:
| Role | What they can do |
|---|---|
| Volunteer | Day-to-day running of the sections you assign them: members, events, badges, email, knowledge base, equipment and insights. In Settings they see Section Management only. |
| Admin | Everything, across every section — including Settings, billing, and User Management itself. |
Every group needs at least one Admin. We recommend two, so you are never locked out.
Adding someone
- In Settings → Users, click Add user.
- Choose how you want to give them access:
- Invite someone new — send a login to someone who isn't in your records yet.
- Make an Explorer a Young Leader — give a 14 to 17 year old a login for the younger sections they help with.
- Promote an existing young person — give a young person a login that carries their roles, badges and history forward.
- Fill in the form and click Invite user.
See Adding a Young Leader to Scoutworks for the second option, and Promoting a Young Person to a Role for the third.
The invite form
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Role | Volunteer or Admin. Leave it blank only if you are adding a trustee who does nothing else — see below. |
| Also a Trustee | Adds read-only governance access on top of the role. Optional. |
| Email address | Where the invitation goes. It is also their username. |
| First name and Last name | Both required. |
| Sections (Leader Access) | Which sections a Volunteer can see. Only shown for Volunteers — Admins see every section. |
| Send invitation email now | Ticked by default. Untick to add them now and invite them later. |
Section access is also kept up to date automatically when you assign leaders in Section Management, so you don't have to set it twice.
If you untick Send invitation email now, the button changes to Add without inviting. The person appears in the list as Not invited yet, and you send their invite from the row menu whenever you're ready.
Extra permissions that aren't in the dropdown
Trustee, Treasurer and Quartermaster are added on top of a person's role, not instead of it. That's why you won't find them in the Role dropdown. A Volunteer can be a Treasurer, a Trustee, or both.
| Permission | What it gives them | Where you grant it |
|---|---|---|
| Trustee | Read-only governance access: Trustee Dashboard, Insights, Risk Register, Duties, Conflicts, Meetings and the Charity Register. They cannot manage members, events or settings. | Settings → Users — tick Also a Trustee when you invite or edit someone. |
| Treasurer | Full access to the Accounting Module — transactions, budgets, bank reconciliation, expense claims and financial reports. | Settings → Finance → Treasurer Management → Add Treasurer. |
| Quartermaster | Review and approve equipment requests. | Settings → Equipment → Quartermaster Management → Add Quartermaster. |
Two rules apply to all three:
- Only Admins can grant or remove them.
- Only Volunteers and Admins can hold them — parents cannot.
Admins already have finance and equipment access, so you only need Treasurer or Quartermaster for a Volunteer.
Granting Trustee access
Tick Also a Trustee in the invite form, or open an existing person's Edit dialog and tick it there. Their row then shows a small shield beside their role — hover it to confirm they also hold governance access.
Trustees who do nothing else
Committee members often need oversight and nothing more. For them, leave Role blank and tick Also a Trustee on its own. The form tells you this is fine — "Optional — leave blank for trustee-only access".
Their row shows Trustee as the role and Governance only in the Sections column, so it is obvious at a glance that they don't run a section.
Granting Treasurer or Quartermaster access
- Go to Settings → Finance for treasurers, or Settings → Equipment for quartermasters.
- Find the Treasurer Management or Quartermaster Management card.
- Click Add Treasurer or Add Quartermaster and pick the person from the list.
- To take the access away, use the remove button on their row.
Changes take effect immediately. You can have more than one of each — useful where a group runs a co-treasurer arrangement.
Roles you can't invite
Three roles exist but never appear in the invite form:
- Young Leader and Network — granted only by promoting an existing young person, so their badges and history come with them. For a Young Leader, use the Young Leaders card at the top of this page — see Adding a Young Leader to Scoutworks. For Network, see Promoting a Young Person to a Role.
- Parent — created automatically when you add a parent to a member record. There is nothing to invite.
You can still filter the list by these roles using the All roles dropdown (or click Show in the Young Leaders card), and you can edit a Young Leader's sections from their Edit dialog.
Seeing who's accepted and who hasn't
Every row shows a status next to the person's name:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Active — green dot | They've accepted the invite and signed in within the last 30 days. |
| Inactive — grey dot | They've accepted the invite but haven't signed in for 30 days or more. |
| Pending invite — amber dot | You've sent the invite but they haven't set a password yet. |
| Not invited yet | You added them without sending an email. Send their invite when you're ready. |
| Suspended | Their access is paused. See Suspending and Reinstating a Volunteer. |
Use the search box to find someone by name or email, and the All roles dropdown to narrow the list to Admins, Volunteers, Young Leaders, Network or Trustees.
Sending or resending an invite
If someone can't find their welcome email, hasn't got round to it, or their link has expired, you can send a fresh one.
- Find them in the list — look for Pending invite or Not invited yet.
- Click the three-dot menu on their row.
- Choose Send invite (for someone never invited) or Resend invite.
They get a welcome email straight away with a fresh link. The old link stops working the moment you resend, so there is only ever one live invite per person.
You can do this for any adult user who hasn't accepted yet — Admins, Volunteers, Young Leaders, Trustees and parent accounts.
Fixing a mistyped email
If you typed the address wrong, the row menu on a not-yet-accepted user also offers Edit email. Correct it there, then resend.
Invite links expire after 30 days
Every welcome email includes a link that works for 30 days. After that the link is dead and you need to resend the invite. The 30-day window starts again from each resend.
Messages you might see
| Message | Why it's showing |
|---|---|
| "Invitation resent to [email]" | All good — the new welcome email is on its way. |
| "Too soon — try again in X seconds." | You or another admin resent this person's invite a moment ago. This stops duplicate emails from a double-click. Wait a few seconds and try again. |
| "This user has already accepted their invitation." | They set their password between you opening the page and clicking Resend. The list refreshes and the option disappears — no action needed. |
Changing someone's role or sections
Open the three-dot menu on their row and choose Edit. You can change their name, email, role, section access and Trustee tick from the same dialog. Changes take effect immediately.
Two guardrails apply:
- You can't change the role of the last remaining Admin. Promote someone else to Admin first.
- You can't remove your own account.
Pausing or removing access
- Suspend access pauses someone's login but keeps their whole record — the right choice for a temporary break. See Suspending and Reinstating a Volunteer.
- Delete removes them from the group for good. Use this when a volunteer has left.
Both live in the three-dot menu on their row.
What's next
- Understanding Roles and Permissions — a fuller breakdown of what each role can reach.
- Promoting a Young Person to a Role — give a member their own login without losing their history.
- Section Leaders, GSL and Other Key Roles — set up who runs each section.
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What's next?
Related guidesUnderstanding Roles and Permissions
Learn what each role in Scoutworks can access and how permissions work across groups.
Read articlePromoting a Young Person to a Role
How to give an existing member a Young Leader, Network or Volunteer login that carries their badges, awards and history with them.
Read articleSuspending and Reinstating a Volunteer
How a group admin can pause a volunteer's access to the group and bring them back later — keeping their full record either way.
Read articleSection Leaders, GSL and Other Key Roles
How to show who runs each section and who holds key positions like Group Scout Leader, Chair, Treasurer and Quartermaster in your group.
Read articleManaging Sections
How to create and configure custom sections for your Scout group.
Read articleEquipment Requests and Approvals
How to request equipment, manage the approval workflow, and configure quartermaster access and approval modes.
Read article