9 August 2023
6.The 2005 Act established OSCR as a regulator and put in place the current system for the regulation of charities in Scotland. It was supplemented in some areas by Part 9 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.
7.The overall aim of the Act as set out in the Policy Memorandum is to strengthen and update the current legislative framework for charities registered in Scotland. It does not generally seek to revisit the fundamental principles of the 2005 Act.
8.More specifically, the Act makes provision in the following areas—
providing for the provision of information about charity trustees (both public information and internal information for OSCR’s use),
updating the law in relation to disqualification criteria (expanding the grounds upon which a person is, subject to a possible waiver, disqualified from acting as a charity trustee; extending this to certain senior management functions; and providing for a publicly searchable record of persons who are disqualified by reason of having been removed from office in Scotland),
extending the current rules allowing OSCR to appoint interim charity trustees to cases where the charity is not in a position to request OSCR’s assistance,
in relation to accounts, providing for these to be publicly available on the Register as well as allowing for the possible removal of charities which fail to submit accounts and then ignore communications from OSCR about that failure,
allowing the recording of charity mergers in a publicly accessible record and making default provision under which legacies transfer to the successor charity,
adjusting the rules which apply to a statutory charity which holds an endowment and wishes to use the reorganisation scheme provisions provided in the 2005 Act,
refining the process in relation to inquiries (allowing inquiries to be held or continue despite a change in a body or person’s status; refining the position as to how notices are served and notice periods apply in relation to inquiries; and giving OSCR the ability to issue positive – as opposed to interdictory – directions following an inquiry),
requiring charities to have a connection to Scotland which makes their regulation by OSCR appropriate,
a number of minor or technical changes which do things such as formalise existing practices, close a loophole or otherwise clarify wording in the 2005 Act, align the position for charities of different types, simplify practices, specify deadlines for existing actions, etc.