OSCR announces decisions on directions

24 November 2009

Scotland’s charity regulator has announced that all of the charities issued with directions last year as part of its Rolling Review assessments have complied with its requirements to date.

Ten charities were issued with directions. Six were directed to amend their constitutions and four, all schools, were directed to produce plans on how they proposed to widen access and address fee levels. Those directed to amend constitutions have all done so, while the four schools have met OSCR’s requirements pending a final decision in 2011.

Lomond School in Helensburgh, St Leonards School in St Andrews, Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh, and Hutcheson’s Educational Trust in Glasgow, submitted their plans by OSCR’s stated deadline date, and these have been confirmed by OSCR as meeting the requirements of its directions to date. The regulator will monitor the schools’ progress in implementing the plans, with the final decision to be taken in October 2011.

‘This is an important stage in the process,’ said OSCR’s Chief Executive, Jane Ryder. ‘We have seen all ten charities take steps to address our concerns. In the case of the schools, they have met our requirements to date and it remains with them to implement their plans in order to meet the final stage of the directions issued.

‘We will continue to monitor the schools and make our final decision based on the actual situation in October 2011.’

OSCR has also announced that in coming weeks it will produce a summary report setting out its approach and the key factors supporting its decisions.

ENDS

Issued by OSCR, Quadrant House, 9 Riverside Drive, Dundee DD1 4NY. Contact Mark Simpson or Morag Stewart on 01382 220446 or 07920 274498 or email communications@oscr.org.uk

Background information

Charities given directions by OSCR - changes to constitutions

The following charities were directed to make changes to their constitutions to meet the charity test.

• SC032302 Isle of Gigha Heritage Trust
• SC013138 Scottish Youth Hostel Association
• SC018225 Ullapool Museum Trust
• SC032270 Andarroch Trust
• SC013208 Cosgrove Care Ltd
• SC000639 Bute Museum Trustees

All had complied with OSCR’s directions by the deadline date of 28 October 2009.

Charities given directions by OSCR - increasing access to benefit provided

The following charities were issued with three-part directions.

• SC007957 Lomond School
• SC010904 St Leonards School
• SC016580 Merchiston Castle School
• SC002922 Hutcheson’s Educational Trust

The first part required them to respond in writing by 28 January 2009 to confirm that they intended to meet the requirements of OSCR’s directions.

The second part required them to provide, by 28 October 2009, plans to show how they would increase the facilitated access arrangements or set out some other strategy to ensure that they meet the public benefit requirement of the charity test. All four charities had complied with this part of the direction by the required date.

They are now required to implement their plans by 28 October 2011, so that the charity test can be met.

OSCR will publish a report in coming weeks which will set out the key points arising from its consideration of these plans.

Rolling Review

OSCR continues with the first phase of its Rolling Review of charitable status, where it assesses those charities with a risk of non-compliance with the charity test.

In September 2008 OSCR announced its decisions on 30 charities, including 11 schools. The full report, including detailed assessments, is available at:

http://www.oscr.org.uk/NewsItem.aspx?ID=b4fa4599-2cb7-451c-9874-dab8d9638392

The charity test

Section 7 of The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 specifies the charity test that must be met in order to enjoy charitable status.

Section 7 (1) states that:

A body meets the charity test if –

(a) its purposes consist only of one or more of the charitable purposes, and

(b) it provides (or, in the case of an applicant, provides or intends to provide) public benefit in Scotland or elsewhere.

Section 8 (Public Benefit) specifies requirements that OSCR must consider in assessing whether a body provides public benefit. These include looking at any ‘private benefit’ (benefit gained by members of a charity other than as members of the public) any ‘disbenefit’ that may result form what the charity does, and whether conditions on obtaining access to what the charity provides, such as fees or charges, may be ‘unduly restrictive’.