Becoming a Charity in Scotland Part 2: The Application Process

(Act Reference: Sections 4, 5, 6)

New Charity Law in Scotland: The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005

The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) will establish a process for applying to be a charity and details will appear on the OSCR website. This page deals with what the Act itself says.

To apply to be a charity an organisation must send OSCR the following information in the format required by OSCR.

• name
• contact address (office or named management committee member (who if the application is successful will be come a trustee))
• statement of purposes (bearing in mind the ‘charitable purposes’)
• constitution
• most recent account statement (if there is one)
• anything else stipulated either by Scottish Ministerial regulations or by OSCR

If OSCR thinks that the information proves the organisation satisfies the charity test it will grant it charitable status. If not, it won’t. It can also refuse to grant charitable status if the charity has ‘an objectionable name’ (which includes names that are too similar to another charity; likely to mislead the public as to the purpose or activity of the charity; imply a connection to central or local government or are offensive).

• Ministers have the power to make regulations concerning the application process. These can cover, for example, information and documentation, the form and manner in which application is made, the time period within which OSCR must make a decision and further grounds for refusing to enter a body on the Register. At the time of writing there is no indication that Ministerial regulations are required, rather OSCR will be able to draw up its own policy and procedures.