Scottish charity law: consultation

Section 8: De-registered charities’ assets and public benefit

68. If a charity is removed from the Scottish Charity Register but continues to operate as a non-charitable body, it is under a duty to use the assets it held before it de-registered for the charitable purposes then set out in its Register entry. The former trustees are also under a duty to submit statements of account for the pre-removal assets of the body to OSCR on an annual basis. OSCR continues to monitor the assets until they are spent or become negligible.

69. While any such ‘pre-removal’ assets must be used for charitable purposes, there is no requirement for them to be used to provide public benefit. This means that assets that have been built up during the life of the charity could potentially be used in ways that did not provide public benefit and for private gain.

70. One option is to require bodies that have de-registered as charities to continue to use the assets held at the time of removal from the Register to provide public benefit.

71. This could increase public trust as it would guarantee that any funds or assets that have been donated to a charity must continue to be used to for public rather than private benefit, even if the charity de-registers.

72. However, it could also create an additional burden on bodies that have de-registered to continue to provide public benefit with their pre-removal assets despite no longer benefitting from charitable status.

Question 19. Should bodies that have de-registered as charities be required to continue to use the assets held at the time of removal from the Scottish Charity Register to provide public benefit?

Yes

No