OSCR removes 30 more charities from Scottish Charity Register
Today (14 November 2023) the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) has removed a further 30 charities from the Scottish Charity Register. Since the removal of 31 charities in September, work has been ongoing by a dedicated project team at OSCR to identify more charities which are suitable to be removed from the register.
The 30 charities which have been removed today have been identified for removal as they no longer meet the charity test. This usually means:
- OSCR cannot find any evidence suggesting that the charity is still operating; and
- The charity has failed to engage with communications from OSCR.
The charity test is the legal set of requirements that an organisation must pass to become a charity and be entered in the Scottish Charity Register. The charity test is in two main parts:
- An organisation has to show that it has only charitable purposes; and
- That it provides public benefit in achieving those purposes.
Martin Tyson, OSCR’s Head of Regulation & Improvement, says:
"One of the primary ways of a charity demonstrating that they are providing public benefit is through the publication of annual accounts and a trustees’ annual report. The charities we have identified have failed, over a number of years, in their statutory duty to submit this annual accounting information to OSCR.
"The vast majority of charities comply promptly with this duty. However, the 30 charities which are being removed today have failed to provide this key information to the public about what they do and how they spend their money. Because of this, there’s no evidence to show they are meeting the charity test."
If OSCR cannot find any evidence that charities are meeting the requirements of the charity test, the organisations are at risk of being removed from the register and losing their charitable status.
Martin Tyson adds:
"In order to maintain public confidence in the Scottish charity sector, it is important that OSCR removes charities which are no longer providing public benefit. This helps to ensure that charities on the register are actively providing public benefit and reporting transparently to the public."
The charities were identified for removal under section 30 of the 2005 Act, and were given 21 days to respond to our correspondence or to request a review of OSCR’s decision.
The project team continue to work to identify more charities that will be suitable for removal in the future.
Download the Section 33 report with full details of the charities which are being removed here.