Tell us what you think!

Advancing equality is important - and charities play a key role.  Read our draft Strategy and give us your views.

We're planning to publish our new Equality Strategy for 2012-15.  This shows what we plan to do as Scotland's charity regulator and as a public body to advance equality and meet our equality duties.

The Equality Act 2010 brought together many existing anti-discriminatory requirements, but it also updated them and introduced some new rules.  Everyone is covered by equality law, including charities and the people who benefit from them, and we should all know our duties and rights.  Our new Strategy sets out how we will carry out our regulatory work, deliver services, develop policy and behave as an employer in a way that advances equality, making sure that everyone is treated fairly.

Read our draft Strategy here.

We have also looked at the impact that the new equality law, which includes limited exceptions for charities and some other bodies, has when we make decisions about the charity test, including the consideration of public benefit. Our Strategy proposes updating our Meeting the Charity Test guidance to explain to charities how the law on discrimination relates to the charity test.

Charities in general want to understand their duties and to carry them out well. We are interested in hearing your views about how we can support you, particularly in understanding the kind of guidance you would like to receive about equality. We would like to know which issues you think our guidance should cover, and in what format you would like to see it. We intend our guidance to complement that from the Equality and Human Rights Commission in giving more specific detail for charities. We've included questions about possible guidance as part of the consultation that runs until 9 February 2013.

Please send us your comments by email at info@oscr.org.uk or by letter to OSCR, 2^nd Floor, Quadrant House, 9 Riverside Drive,  Dundee DD1 4NY, marking your response Equality Strategy 2012-15.

You read about how we conduct our consultations here.

Issued by The Scottish Charity Regulator, Quadrant House, 9 Riverside Drive, Dundee DD1 4NY.  Telephone: 01382 220446.  Email: info@oscr.org.uk