Boy Scouts of America offers $220m to settle abuse cases – but survivors say they’d get just $6,000 each

Campaigners say group’s reorganisation plan ‘woefully fails to adequately compensate sexual abuse survivors’

Hundreds of men who survived sexual abuse as boy scouts could recieve only $6,000 (£4,927) each, as part of the group’s plans for bankrupt, campaigners say.

Boy Scouts of America (BSA) said in a court filing on Monday that it would put $220 million (£157 million) towards compensation for tens of thousands of former scouts, who say they were sexually abused, USA Today reported. Another $300 million (£214,810) could come from voluntary contributions from local councils.

But a committee representing survivors said individuals would receive only $6,000 (£4,927) in compensation, should it be handed out equally per claimant.

That number, which removes duplicate claims against Boy Scouts of America, also does not consider issues related to statutes of limitations or specific acts of abuse.

The compensation forms part of a reorganisation plan put forward in court filings on Monday.

Read more: The Boy Scouts scandal shows the sexual abuse of boys is a far bigger story than we’re willing to admit

It comes almost a year after the group filed for bankruptcy in a Delaware court last February, facing 275 lawsuits and another possible 1,400 claims of sexual abuse.

Since then, around 95,000 claims have been made against Boy Scouts of America for sexual abuse suffered by former scouts — with the deadline set by a bankruptcy judge.

“As a fiduciary to all sexual abuse survivors, the TCC has thoroughly investigated the assets and liabilities of the BSA and its local councils,” the Torts Claimant Committee said in a statement, “and concluded that the BSA's reorganisation plan woefully fails to adequately compensate sexual abuse survivors or provide any enhanced systematic protections for future generations of Scouts.”

Paul Mones, an attorney for hundreds of survivors, added that “the problem is that the Boy Scouts are not willing to dig deep enough for the deep pain they caused.”

“They are shifting the responsibility to the insurance companies, creating a situation for the survivors to engage in obviously protracted litigation to obtain the just compensation they deserve,” Mr Mones added to the Associated Press. “The Boy Scouts of America basically wants to walk away unscathed from this.”

Boy Scouts of America says it requires around $75 million (£63 million) to continue basic operations, and will also contribute its collection of Norman Rockwell pieces, as well as two facilities in Texas and hundreds of gas and oil rights, to the compensation funds.

It is not yet clear how much the survivors will receive exactly, with details still to be worked out.