Bill to strengthen powers of charity regulator published

A Bill which aims to improve scrutiny of charities’ finances and strengthen the regulator has been published by the Scottish Government.

Under the new legislation, the Office of Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) will be able to strike off charities which fail to provide accounts.

OSCR will have to publish annual accounts for each of Scotland’s 25,000 registered charities as well as the names of all trustees.

Those who have been removed as trustees will have their names recorded publicly.

The Charities (Regulation and Administration) Bill would also give OSCR powers to issue “positive directions” to a charity to take action.

Last year, the Scottish third sector was estimated to have an income of £13.17 billion and employ more than 200,000 staff.

Social Justice Secretary Shona Robison said: “Charities play a vital role in our society, from supporting individuals and communities, to informing policy at a national level.

“Current charity law is now 17 years old, the charity sector has changed significantly in that time and the legislation needs to be updated to reflect that.

“Charities have told us that they want these changes to help strengthen existing charity law and update their system of regulation.

“In order to maintain public trust and confidence in this important sector and its regulator in the years ahead, we are taking the required steps to increase transparency and to extend OSCR’s enforcement powers.

“Scotland’s charities raise more than £13 billion of income each year and this Bill will give the public further transparency as to how that money is used.”