OSCR’s vision is of charities that you can trust, and that provide public benefit.
We support this vision in all of our work. We have a duty to consider risk to charities, encourage compliance, identify and investigate potential wrongdoing, and respond appropriately.
Charities trustees are the people who have the general control and management of the administration of a charity. They are responsible for complying with the charity trustee duties set out in the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. In most cases charity trustees do this very well, but when something goes wrong, and they have not addressed the situation effectively, it may be necessary for OSCR to intervene. Sometimes this means that we will use our legal powers to carry out inquiries into a charity. This guidance explains how we go about this area of our work.
In this guidance, we explain the options available to OSCR when we become aware of a concern about a charity, or when we identify that something is not operating as it should. The guidance is split into sections to help you find the information most relevant to you, whether you are a person or organisation who has a concern about a charity, or a charity that is the subject of a concern.