Scotland’s charity regulator has today published a reference report to help charities understand and address potential issues in meeting the requirements of charitable status.

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR)'s  Protecting Charitable Status is a summary of its reviews over the past six years, used as a guide for charities and information for the public.  

OSCR chief executive David Robb said that the new report gives reassurance that Scotland’s charities provide benefit to the public in pursuing charitable purposes:

“As we develop our reviews for the future, this new report provides a summary of our experience and we hope it will be a useful reference document for charities on key aspects of regulation and governance,” he said.  

“We are keen to assist charities in meeting those requirements, and in addition to our guidance material, this new report sets out some key points and real-life examples that will illustrate the issues we consider.”

All charities in Scotland must meet the ‘charity test’ set out in legislation, demonstrating that they have charitable purposes, provide public benefit and meet other legal requirements. Since April 2006, all applications for charitable status in Scotland have been assessed by OSCR against this requirement, with some 4,949 granted charitable status on this basis.