Is your Talking Newspaper a Scottish Charity?

You may already know that the rules and regulations for Scottish charities are under review at the moment. Until now, any organisation granted charitable status in Scotland by the Inland Revenue has become a "recognised body" in the terms of the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990. In December 2003, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) was set up as an Executive Agency of the Scottish Executive. The main aims of OSCR are to increase public confidence in charities; to make Scottish charities aware of their responsibilities and to hold them accountable; to investigate concerns expressed about any particular Scottish charity.

The voluntary sector is finding fund raising increasingly difficult. This is probably due to many factors but one is dwindling public confidence in charities, heightened by stories in the press concerning misuse of funds. So we should welcome OSCR.

Once the new Act is in force, likely to be around April 2006, OSCR will grant charitable status. In the meantime, please ensure that the contact details held by the Inland Revenue about your charity are up to date. When your TN was originally granted charitable status, the names and addresses of your executive committee would have been supplied and one person nominated as contact person. Each time your executive committee changes, especially your contact person, inform the Inland Revenue of the change immediately. If you are unsure whether or not the record held by the Inland Revenue is correct at the moment, ask them (address below) and take any necessary action as soon as possible. Remember to quote your Scottish Charity number and, if you have one, ED reference on any correspondence.

If it is not a recognised charity, you must be careful never to refer to your TN as "a charity" at any time. Any organisation mis-representing themselves as a charity could be prosecuted.

OSCR were consulted and they are happy with the principles set down on this page.

OSCR's booklet "Brief Guide to the Regulation of Charities in Scotland" is available here to download as a pdf file.

Please contact us if you have any queries.

Useful Addresses:

Inland Revenue (Charities) Scotland
Meldrum House
15 Drumsheugh Gardens
EDINBURGH
EH3 7UL

Tel: 0131 777 4126
http://www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/charities

Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator
Argyll House
Marketgait
DUNDEE
DD1 1QP

Tel: 01382 220 446
E-Mail: info@oscr.org.uk
http://oscr.org.uk