Membership system updates 2026

July 2026

Assistant leader roles - phasing out by end of August

There is a new push to clear assistant leader roles on GO by the end of August. Assistant leader roles were originally set to end in 2024 but this was put on hold, until now.

Assistant leaders who already hold a Mod 4 and have it showing on their record should be changed to leader, regardless of what responsibilities they may or may not undertake in the unit. Before any changes are made to these roles, the county membership systems coordinator will be contacting DCs to check there are no reasons why this change should not be made.

Those who believe that they have completed Mod 4, but do not have it showing on their record, will need to provide proof of a Mod 4 or evidence that a historic qualification was imported to GO and only modules 1-3 were credited. If no evidence or historic qualification can be found, they will need to do the top-up e-learning.

Anyone who has not currently gained a Mod 4 will be asked to do the top-up e-learning.

Leader roles - active pending due to new checks

Due to the recent changes on GO, some leader roles may go active pending. You must have one of either Mod 4 of the old LQ, the top-up e-learning, or the new becoming a leader (LDP) on your record. The leader criteria has not changed, but GO now checks this criteria, where previously it did not.

If you are affected by this, please contact the county membership systems coordinator on [email protected].

May 2026

GO update – Supervision tab

Two new actions have been added to the needs supervision tab on GO. Commissioners can now view and edit details of individuals, plus add notes for volunteers and enquirers with active pending roles.

This will help manage active pending volunteers and enquirers, by keeping track of actions taken and enable information to be shared, where multiple volunteers are supporting an individual.

1st response training updated

Girlguiding’s first aid qualification, known as 1st response training, has been updated. The syllabus has been updated in line with the Resuscitation Council UK’s guidelines for all first aid providers in the UK. From 1 April if you book on to a Girlguiding 1st response course you’ll cover the updated syllabus.

If you’re booking a first aid course through an external provider, you should find a course that meets the requirements of the updated syllabus. However, courses booked before 1 April and completed before 1 July that met the previous syllabus will be accepted.

Policy and procedure updates

The following policies and procedures have been updated:

• Health, safety and welfare policy and procedure
• Adventurous activities procedure
• Managing concerns about adult volunteers policy and procedure
• Speaking up policy

April 2026

Insight and innovation pool sign up - have your say

If you would like to have your say and help Girlguiding shape the way forward, opt in to the Girlguiding insight and innovation pool from the marketing preferences area on GO.

By joining the pool, you can take part in important research, be the first to try out new things, and help Girlguiding better meet its members’ needs.

More information can be found here: Join our insight and innovation pool

January 2026

Volunteer recruitment tool

A link from GO to the new volunteer recruitment tool has been added for commissioners and level support roles.

Compliance process - changes to email notifications from GO

The email notifications sent from GO to people who need to complete safer guiding or do a disclosure check, have been updated. These should now make it clearer within the email what they need to do and when.

The emails sent to commissioners have also been updated, to enable them to see that a GO notification is about someone with an overdue training or disclosure check.

Please read the ‘Safer guiding communications’ GO helpfile for more details about what information is sent to volunteers, at each stage of the compliance process.

Process for notification of death of a member

In the unfortunate event that you are faced with dealing with the death of a member, please do not end any roles that the member may have, as this will trigger automatic emails from the GO system. Please contact one or all the following: county commissioner, county GO coordinator, county office. The county GO coordinator will download a guiding history report and inform HQ, who will put a stop on the emails before ending any roles. Please also let the county office know next of kin details (name and address) so a sympathy card from county can be sent.