New Charity Law in Scotland

Charities (Regulation & Administration) (Scotland) Act 2023

From summer 2025, the remaining changes from the Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Act 2023, will come into effect.  This legislation modifies certain aspects of Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005.

The first changes of this new Act took effect from 1st April 2024, with further changes implemented in October 2024.

Publication of all charity accounts

From the end of 2025, every accounts document filed with OSCR, will be publicly available on the Scottish Charities Register for at least 5 years. OSCR will no longer ‘redact’ (or blank out) any personal information from these documents prior to publication.

OSCR recommends Trustees to:

• carefully consider what information to include in the charity’s accounts. Some personal data is required by the legislation, such as the names of charity trustees. However, Trustees should consider if it is appropriate to include the names and images of other volunteers or beneficiaries.
• make sure your accounts can easily be displayed online, with a PDF document being the most preferable option.
• consider adding digital or typed signatures, rather than handwritten.

Providing Trustee details to OSCR and the publication of Trustee names

Starting in summer 2025, OSCR will require charities to submit the following details for each charity trustee:

1. Name
2. Home address
3. Email address
4. Telephone number
5. Date of birth

From the end of 2025, the first and last name of each charity trustee will be published on the Scottish Charity Register. The other information will be held by OSCR on a secure internal database. Individual trustees will be able to apply for their name not to be published, but only where this might be a safety concern.

OSCR recommends that your charity has granted OSCR online access to the appropriate individuals.

Removing charities that fail to submit accounts

The 2023 Act gives OSCR the power to remove charities from the Scottish Charity Register that have failed to submit accounts on time and failed to engage with OSCR about putting this breach of trustee duties right.

Automatic disqualification

The Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Act 2023 extends the criteria that result in the automatic disqualification of trustees. The new range of criteria will now include, for instance, those convicted of bribery, terrorism, money laundering or who are on the sexual offenders register.

These criteria, which have previously only applied to trustees, are being extended to include staff or volunteers who undertake a senior management function for a charity.

Increased inquiry powers

From 1 April 2024, OSCR has several new powers to help it protect charities and their assets.

• Power to direct charities to take particular actions.
• Power to appoint interim trustees.
• Power to inquire into former charities and former charity trustees.
• Changes to OSCR’s powers to require charities and others to provide information.

A charity’s connection to Scotland

From 1 April 2024, OSCR must refuse an application to be registered as a charity from organisations that have no or a negligible connection with Scotland. OSCR will look at factors including whether the organisation has a principal office in Scotland, occupies premises or carries out activities in Scotland.

If an existing Scottish charity is no longer able to demonstrate a link with Scotland, then OSCR can instruct it to take action to establish a link. If the charity fails to do so, OSCR can remove the charity from the Scottish charity register.

Need More Help?

Please contact Support : Barefoot Accounting Support 

Barefoot Accounting Ltd

Regent House

Linlithgow

West Lothian

EH49 7HU

March 2025