Setting Up Your Waiting List

Getting started with waiting lists#

A waiting list gives families a clear path to joining your group. Parents fill in a simple form, and you manage applications through a structured triage process — no more scraps of paper or text messages to keep track of.

Accessing the waiting list#

Click Members in the sidebar, then select the Waiting List sub-item. This opens the waiting list management page.

If this is your first time, Scoutworks walks you through a Setup Wizard — a multi-step process that configures your sections and priority tiers.

Configuring priority rules#

Priority tiers rank your applications, and they decide who gets a place when the Transition Planner has fewer places than young people who need one. Set them in Settings → Priority Rules.

Every group gets the same six tiers: Leader's Child, Ageing Out, Sibling, Local, Helper Parent (off by default) and Standard. You cannot add or delete them. What you choose is the order, whether each one is on, and what most of them are called.

Scoutworks works out which tier each applicant falls into. An applicant is checked against your enabled tiers in your order and gets the first one that fits, so a leader's child who also lives locally is a Leader's Child.

Two things are worth knowing before you reorder anything:

• Ageing Out is the only tier your own members ever hold. It is applied automatically to every young person moving up a section. Its position decides whether the last place in a full section goes to somebody already in your group or to somebody on your waiting list.
• Ageing Out cannot be renamed. It is applied silently to every member in the plan, so its name stays fixed and honest. The other five can be called whatever suits your group.

See Waiting List Configuration for the full settings, and How Recommended Places Are Calculated for how the order plays out in the plan.

Sharing your waiting list#

Two ways to share your waiting list form with families:

Shareable link#

Go to Settings → Waiting List Embed & Sharing and select the Share Link tab. The shareable link follows the format https://my.scoutworks.app/waiting-list/{your-group-id} and takes parents directly to the application form.

• Click Copy Link to copy it to your clipboard, ready to paste into an email, WhatsApp message, Facebook post, or your group's newsletter.
• Click Open Link to preview the form in a new tab.
• Click Preview Embed to see how the form looks when embedded.

The link works anywhere — no technical knowledge required from parents. It is the simplest way to share your waiting list and works well for social media bios, email signatures, and printed "how to join" leaflets.

Embed on your website#

For groups with their own website, the Embed on Website tab (admin only) provides a ready-to-use HTML snippet that you paste into your site. The embed displays the waiting list form directly on your page — applications go straight to your Scoutworks dashboard with no extra steps.

The embed code includes:

• An iframe that loads the form at 100% width and 900 pixels default height, with rounded corners and no border.
• An auto-resize script that listens for height change messages from the form and adjusts the iframe automatically, so there are no scrollbars or wasted space.

To use it:

1. Select the Embed on Website tab.
2. Click Copy Code to copy the HTML snippet.
3. Paste it into your website's HTML editor where you want the form to appear.

Platform-specific guidance#

Different website platforms handle iframes differently:

• WordPress — use a Custom HTML block or the embed shortcode.
• Squarespace — use a Code Block in the page editor to add the iframe.
• Wix — requires a Premium plan for iframes. If you are on the free plan, use the shareable link instead.
• Notion — iframes are not supported. Use the shareable link.

Custom styling#

You can customise the embed's colours to match your website's branding using the postMessage API. After the embed loads, it sends an embedReady message. You respond with a setColors message containing your preferred hex colour values for primary, background, and text.

The embed also supports an applyTheme message type. Only hex colour values are accepted for security.

Scout Pages integration#

If your group uses Scout Pages for your website, there is a built-in integration. Copy your Group ID from the embed settings and paste it into the Scoutworks widget settings in Scout Pages. The waiting list form plugs straight in with no iframe code needed.

The public application form#

Parents fill in a simple form with:

• Child's first name, last name, and date of birth.
• Parent contact details.
• Preferred days and sections (if applicable).
• Any special information or sibling details.

Applications appear instantly in your waiting list management view.

What's next#

• Processing Waiting List Applications — triage, offer places, and convert to members.
• Waiting List Reports — analytics and intake planning.