The number of charity reorganisation applications approved by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator increased by 43 per cent in the last financial year, reflecting the sector's ability to adapt to the difficult economic position, says the regulator's chief executive.

The regulator approved 154 reorganisation applications last year (2011/12), according to OSCR's annual report published yesterday.

"It is clear the difficult economic position continues to have an impact on charities," said OSCR's CEO David Robb. "We are seeing an increase in applications from charities to reorganise, amalgamate, or change legal form and this indicates that those running Scotland's charities are responding positively," he continued.

Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisations (SCIOs)

Nearly 40 per cent of reorganisation requests were to convert to SCIOs, the report reveals. Some 161 applications to become SCIOs were approved, including 60 conversions from existing charities. Scotland was the first country to launch the new CIO legal form, doing so in April 2011. Some 20 per cent of new applications for charitable status are for SCIOs.

A further 106 organisations last year sought consent to change their legal form to a company, exactly double the number from the previous year.  

OSCR also witnessed 1,231 applications for charitable status in 2011/12, a rise of 8 per cent on the previous year. Some 674 charites were removed from the register last year (including voluntary removals). 

OSCR is the regulator for Scotland's 23,000 charities.