Essex International Scout and Guide Jamboree is a collaboration between the charitable organisations of Essex Scouts, Girlguiding Essex North East, Girlguiding Essex South East and Girlguiding Essex West. The event is organised exclusively by volunteers and funded from participant fees and modest reserves. The substantial liability for this event, circa £1.5 million, rests with these organisations and ultimately their Trustees.
The impact of the evolving Coronavirus outbreak on planning for EIJ2020 has been carefully considered by a number of key stakeholders. The direct impact of an outbreak of the virus itself prior to or during the event was considered along with the impact of the following scenarios:

• International Participants and Volunteers Staff not being allowed to travel
• International Participants unable to return home due to an outbreak within their country
• Outbreak onsite requiring partial isolation during event
• Outbreak onsite leading to event extension
• UK / Local area outbreak prior to event
• UK / Local area outbreak during event
• Restriction on event size by authorities
• Required to cancel event by authorities prior to event
• Required to cancel event by authorities during build
• Required to cancel event by authorities during event due to UK / Local outbreak
• Required to cancel event by authorities during event due to site outbreak
• Large number of participants/groups pull out of event
• Supplier / contractor unable to fulfil their obligations due to disruption to them/their equipment.

All of these scenarios would have an impact on the budget for the event either in lost revenue or irrecoverable costs. Any financial losses would need to be covered by the 3 Essex Girlguiding Counties and Essex County Scouts. A wider reputational impact on both the event and Scouting and Guiding in Essex was also considered.
Because of the potential size of the losses involved it was with heavy hearts that the decision was taken to cancel the event at this stage. It is hoped that this would remove the uncertainty from Groups about whether the event was going ahead and reduce the impact on commitments they had in turn made.
Making this decision now means we can fully refund fees paid to EIJ2020 and protect groups from committing further expenditure.

All fees paid to Essex International Jamboree 2020 by Participant Groups and Staff Volunteers will be refunded in full.

With over 350 Groups booked in (including Junior Jam) plus another 1,150 staff this is a huge undertaking for us. Please be patient.

No. We cannot cover other costs.

From Saturday 14th March, Groups and Volunteer Staff will need to log in to their Jamboree Registrations account (bookings.eij.org.uk) where you will see a button to upload the details we will need to make a bank transfer. 

International Groups and Volunteer Staff can stipulate the currency you wish to receive and we will cover the costs of making the transfer.

Please note that we will only refund Group funds to an appropriate Scout or Guide account and not to personal accounts no matter how the funds were transferred to us. For this reason, Groups will need to upload proof of the bank account to be used. You will see how to do this when you log in.

Staff refunds can be paid to your personal bank account.

When you log in you will see that all Phase 2 data entered by Groups is no longer shown as it is not now needed. 
All sensitive personal data will be destroyed or deleted as per our Data Protection policy.

Yes, you will now receive a full refund on the fees paid to EIJ2020. Please request a refund using the registration system at bookings.eij.org.uk, available from Saturday 14th March.

Junior Jam bookings do not show on the Registrations website so our team will send you a form to complete and return.

We want to minimise costs and smooth the process so if you have sent us combined payments then please let us know on the refund page so we can group them together. Once again we will only refund to an appropriate Scout or Guide account.

All refunds will be processed as quickly as possible. Refunding everyone could take a couple of months.

After 14th March and before 30th April 2020.

All refunds will be by bank transfer ONLY with no option to receive a cheque.

The Group Leader or staff member will receive an email from us confirming that this has been done.

International Groups or Staff will be sent an additional email with details of the amount repaid in your requested currency as our automated email will only list the £ Sterling amount.

As of today we have stopped banking any cheques, we will contact you if your cheque has not been banked.

The event is self-funding and liable for all losses that will occur as the result of this cancellation. If you would like your fee to be donated to the event please contact registration@eij.org.uk.

Your donation could be increased by adding Gift Aid.