Bob a Job makes community return

The Scout Association has turned back the clock to bring back its famous “Bob-A-Job” initiative almost 20 years after health and safety fears forced them to scrap the popular scheme.

The annual Bob-A-Job week invovled Scouts knocking on the doors of homes in their communities to volunteer for any small jobs such as mowing lawns, taking the bins out or washing cars, in return for a small payment.

Health and Safety fears and the rise of compensation culture prompted the Scout movement to end the scheme, but it was relaunched this week with 144,000 supervised children take part in community projects across the UK.

“Bob-a-Job Week is one of the things people like to remember about the Scouts and since we stopped it, people have been saying we should do it again,” explained Simon Carter from the Scout Association.“Now, we think we have found a model that works. We have always been a community based organisation and this is really a case of back to basics.”

More than 2,500 Scout groups have signed up to take parts in tasks around the country, including the cleaning of a 1930s tidal swimming pool in Cornwall, the establishing of a habitat for bees on the Isle of Wight and building bird tables for a dementia care home in Eastleigh.