What charity trustee details must be provided?

Charity trustees, also known as directors or committee members, are legally recognised as the individuals responsible for the control and management of a charity.

Charities must submit the following details for each charity trustee:

• Full name
• Home address
• Email address
• Telephone number
• Date of birth
• Date of appointment*

This information must be submitted exclusively through OSCR Online by an OSCR Online charity user. OSCR will securely store this information for regulatory purposes and to maintain contact with charity trustees as needed. A charity trustee’s information will be retained by OSCR for two years after they cease to be a trustee, after this time it will be deleted.

*The date of appointment refers to the original date the individual became a charity trustee. If a charity trustee has been reappointed after serving a term, you should still use their initial appointment date. If the charity trustee was appointed many years ago and the exact date is unknown, it is acceptable to provide an estimated date.

What charity trustee information will be public?

The information currently shown on the Scottish Charity Register will remain unchanged until early 2026.

From that point onward, only the first and last names of charity trustees will be published on the Register. This change, which was was initially scheduled for implementation in late 2025, has been moved to this date to better align with other upcoming updates. The exact implementation date will be confirmed in due course.

Charity trustees will be able to apply for an exemption from having their name published only if there is a risk to their personal safety or security. If a charity trustee indicates their intention to apply for an exemption when submitting their information, their name will not appear on the Register until OSCR has reviewed the application. If the application is unsuccessful, their name will be published from early 2026. For more information about applying for an exemption, click here.

At the same time in early 2026, OSCR will begin publishing annual reports and accounts in full on the Scottish Charity Register as they are received. No other charity trustee details will be made public unless the charity has chosen to include additional information in its annual report and accounts.

This marks a change from the current approach, where OSCR publishes accounts for certain charities depending on their legal form and income, with personal details redacted.

Charities should carefully consider the personal information included in their accounts and only include the names or images of volunteers or beneficiaries where appropriate.

What should charities do now?

• Inform all charity trustees about this change
• If you haven’t already, collect the required charity trustee information
• Ask one of your OSCR Online charity users (up to three per charity) to log in and input the information in the ‘Manage charity trustees’ section.

Full instructions on how to provide charity trustee information using OSCR Online are available here.