The Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) has today published its Annual Report and Accounts for the year 2022-23.

The report explains more about the work we have undertaken during the past year. It highlights progress against our corporate objectives, shows our financial activity and sets out how we contribute to Scotland’s National Performance Framework.

Key facts and figures for 2022-23 include:

• A slight increase in the number of registered charities in Scotland (25,427 in 2022-23 compared to 25,412 in 2021-22).
• 867 new charities applied for charitable status, and 759 charities who wished to wind up were removed from the register.
• The number of concerns we received about charities increased to 638 in 2022-23 (compared to 563 in 21-22). It was appropriate for OSCR to deal with 228 of these concerns.

The year 2022-23 has seen a number of changes at OSCR, including the appointment of a new Chair and five new Board members, and the launch of the new OSCR Online system. In addition to this, we worked on the development of the new Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Bill and we spent time reviewing and evaluating how we deliver core elements of our business to introduce improvements and efficiencies. All of this has contributed to ensuring that OSCR continues to be an efficient, responsive and enabling regulator which supports Scottish charities and ensures public confidence in the sector remains high.

OSCR Chief Executive Maureen Mallon said:

“Looking back over the year, I am proud of our achievements, and the work which we have done to continue our improvement journey, both as a public body and also in terms of our interactions with Scotland’s 25,000 plus charities.”

OSCR Board Chair Marieke Dwarshuis said:

“I can see clear evidence of how OSCR’s transformation work and experiences of the last few years have enabled us to be in a great position to regulate and support Scotland’s charities, whatever the future holds.”

You can read our Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23 here.