The number of charitable incorporated organisations in Scotland has doubled in just over a year, according to figures released last week by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.

SCIOs now make up a third of all charity applications in Scotland, and more applications are made to become SCIOs than any other legal form, the OSCR said. Its figures show that more than one in 24 Scottish charities is now an SCIO.

The OSCR reported that it has now registered its 1,000th SCIO, just over a year after the registration of the 500th in March 2013. Of those, 766 are new organisations and 234 are existing organisations which have converted.

David Robb, chief executive of the regulator, said demand for SCIO status has remained “consistently high” over recent years.

“It's a simpler way of giving reassurance to people putting their time and effort into setting up and running charities that they have protection against liability,” he said.

“And, as the SCIO is a corporate body it also makes it clearer for people and companies dealing with the charity.

“Of the applications coming to us for charitable status, we now see more SCIOs than any other legal form, with a notable drop in companies limited by guarantee.”

The 1,000th CIO is the Bright Stars Under Fives Playgroup in Galashiels.