OSCR notices and alerts

Charities currently reorganising

Charity reorganisation is a valuable tool for charities in Scotland to release unused funds back into the charity sector. It also allows charities that do not have the power to make changes to apply to us for the authority to do so.

A list of charities currently reorganising can be found in the table below:

Charities at risk of removal from the Register

Charities have a legal duty to submit accounts to OSCR within 9 months of their financial year end. The submission of this information increases accountability and transparency and helps to enhance public trust and confidence in the sector.

When charities fail to submit their accounts on time, and fail to engage with us about this, we have the power to remove them from the Scottish Charity Register. We give notice of our intention to remove these charities from the Register.

SCIO dissolutions

SCIOs exist only so long as they are entered in the Scottish Charity Register. Therefore, where a SCIO wishes to stop operating and bring an end to its existence, it must apply to us to dissolve it by removing it from the Register.

As part of the application process, charity law requires that the proposed dissolution is published on our website prior to it taking place. This gives members of the public, donors and creditors notice of the intended dissolution.

Inquiry reports

Under section 33 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, we must report on the subject of the inquiries we make under section 28 if, as a result of our inquiries we:

1. give a direction, or remove a charity from the Register under section 30
2. suspend a person under subsection (4) of section 31, or
3. give a direction under any of subsections (5) to (9) of section 31

We can also choose to publish a report on the subject of any other inquiries we have made under section 28 - for example, an individual case may offer useful lessons for the wider sector.

New and removed charities

Every month, we grant charitable status to new charities in Scotland. You can view monthly lists of new charities granted status, as well as charities which have been removed from the Scottish Charity Register.

Search the Record of Removed Persons

Any person who has been removed from being concerned in the management and control of a charity or body by the Court of Session is entered into the Record of Removed Persons. Those individuals are disqualified from serving as charity trustees in Scotland unless they have a waiver of disqualification.

This list will help charities carry out due diligence on prospective new trustees. However, it is important to know that someone who is not on it can still be disqualified from being a charity trustee. In addition to being permanently disqualified by the Court of Session, someone can also be disqualified for:

• having an unspent conviction for an offence involving dishonesty or an offence under the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005
• being an undischarged bankrupt or having a Protected Trust Deed
• being removed under either Scottish or English Law or the courts from being a charity trustee
• being disqualified from being a company director.

Charities should always check if a trustee is eligible to take up the position before they start and should regularly review the disqualification criteria against its existing trustees.

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