The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) powers are to be strengthened from next month, including being able to compel charities in Scotland to carry out improvements, and remove late filing charities from its register.

The measures are being enacted from 1 April through the Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Act 2023.

The power to compel changes and improvements to be made in a charity strengthens its current powers to only be able to instruct a charity not to do certain things.

“This positive power will allow us to respond flexibly and appropriately to the wide range of situations we encounter,” said the regulator.

The legislation will also give the regulator the power to remove charities from its register if they have not submitted their accounts on time and have failed to engage with the OSCR about this breach of trustees’ duties.

It will begin notifying charities that are at risk of being removed from the register from April.

“While it is disappointing to remove charities from the Register, the duty to report to the Regulator underpins our regulatory framework in Scotland – without information on the finances and activities of charities, OSCR cannot assure the public and funders that those charities are effectively using charity resources for charitable purposes,” it said.

The OSCR from next month will also be able to appoint interim trustees where a charity is unable to function due to a lack of board members.

It will also be able to make inquiries around former trustees and organisations that are no longer charities. Currently this is restricted to those who existing trustees and charities.

In addition, from April the regulator must refuse an application to be registered as a charity if the applicant has no connection with Scotland.

“To decide on this, we will need to look at factors including whether the organisation has a principal office in Scotland, occupies premises or carries out activities here,” said the regulator.

“Our experience indicates that this will not be an issue for the overwhelming majority of applicants, but the new measure will ensure that we can deal with issues where they arise.”

Further changes through the 2023 legislation are set to come into force in October.

The OSCR said: “This includes the creation of a publicly searchable record of individuals who have been permanently disqualified by the Courts from being a charity trustee so that charities can carry out due diligence on prospective new trustees.”

Next year the remaining elements of the Act will come into effect, including around the publication of trustee names and a record of charity mergers.

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