Our role as regulator includes supporting charities in complying with the Charities and Trustees Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, as well as investigating and taking action where there is evidence of misconduct. We provide guidance to support charity trustees in their role. We recognise that most charities are doing a good job providing public benefit and the number of charities we have concerns about in any given year is very small.
We receive information about possible issues in charities from many different sources including:
We act in the interest of the public as a whole and not on behalf of individuals or groups. We focus our energy and resources on the risks and charities that are in our view most likely to undermine public trust and confidence.
In cases where we decide not to act, we hold the information on file for future consideration if necessary. This is a decision for OSCR to take and is not subject to appeal under the 2005 Act.
Not all issues are ones that we can deal with. This could be because:
In the following sections we explain how some of the most common issues that arise with charities should be handled. This is to ensure that those who have a concern about a charity know where to direct that information, to allow trustees to run their charities appropriately, and to support OSCR in focusing on where regulatory action is needed.
There are some types of issues that OSCR does not usually deal with because they should be raised first with charity trustees. Charity trustees are the people who are responsible for the management of the charity. They must deal with issues about the running of the charity such as:
If you are concerned about this kind of issue, you should contact the charity trustees. If after doing so you remain unhappy with the outcome, this is still not for OSCR to deal with. Decisions taken by the charity trustees that are within the powers set out in the charity’s governing document and in line with their legal duties as charity trustees cannot be overruled by OSCR even where they are unpopular.
If your concern is about any of the following matters, these are not for OSCR to deal with, and you should refer to the relevant section below that explains the steps you should take instead:
For concerns about fundraising, including the way you’ve been asked for donations or how fundraisers have behaved, you should contact the charity trustees in the first instance to raise your concerns. If you do not receive a satisfactory response, you should contact the Scottish Fundraising Adjudication Panel.
We do not intervene or act on behalf of individuals in relation to employment issues, which include:
If this affects you, you should take your own legal advice or seek assistance from ACAS. Citizens Advice Scotland also provide general advice on some employment matters.
If, however, the findings of an Employment Tribunal indicate that there are serious governance issues in a charity, we should be told about this.
We do not deal with complaints about money owed by a charity. We cannot intervene where the issue relates to:
If a charity owes you money or there are issues with a contract, you should first contact the charity trustees and if this does not resolve the matter you should seek legal advice.
Decisions taken by trustees that are within their powers
Charity trustees are responsible for the management of the charity. To do this, they must make decisions and take certain actions. Whether you agree with their choices or not, we cannot take action where the charity trustees have made decisions or taken actions that are within the powers set out in the charity’s governing document and have acted in accordance with their legal duties as charity trustees.
Even where a body is a registered charity, sometimes the issue you are concerned about is the responsibility of another regulator. For example:
The other regulatory body will let OSCR know where there is a breach of charity law so that we can take any necessary action.
We do not deal with concerns about organisations that are not charities and are not representing themselves as a charity. You can check if an organisation is a charity by searching the Scottish Charity Register.
To support our work, we want you to tell us when it looks like:
The law requires us to work in a targeted way. This means making sure that we focus our energy and resources on the issues and charities that are most likely to undermine public trust and confidence.
We consider and keep on record all concerns about charities and decide what steps to take but will not take action in every case.
When making our decisions we consider the issue, the risk involved to the charity and its beneficiaries and the likely impact of our involvement.
Our risk framework underpins how we consider information about charities and the actions we take.
When someone sends us information expressing a concern about a charity we risk assess it. This risk assessment process allows us to consider the concern more widely alongside other relevant information. We apply the same process to information from other sources.
We consider:
The outcome of the risk assessment helps us to decide what we do next. We operate in accordance with our duties as a regulator, which include acting independently, fairly and proportionately, and targeting our action where it is needed – see our Corporate Strategy.
Following our risk assessment we may open an inquiry into a charity. We aim to encourage charities to comply with charity law and in many instances we will close an inquiry once we have given guidance, made suggestions or signposted the charity to other sources of help. However, in the course of or at the conclusion of an inquiry we will take enforcement action where we identify a need to do so.
If you want to send us information where you have concerns about a charity you should use our concerns form. The form explains where the charity trustees or another regulator should deal with the matter rather than OSCR.
Any concern form submitted to OSCR will receive an automatic acknowledgement.