voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering
voluntary organisations, social enterprises and volunteering
Policy changes at OSCR
Created: 15/06/2023The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) has published its new corporate strategy for 2023-2026.
The strategy sets out how OSCR will regulate and support charities to deliver the services the people of Scotland need. It contains five main priorities for the next three years:
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It also sets out the key performance indicators that OSCR will use to measure its success in these priority areas.
View a video of OSCR's Chair (Marieke Dwarshuis) and Chief Executive (Maureen Mallon) discussing the strategy here.
OSCR has just launched The Scottish Charity Podcast, which aims to shine a light on the work of the regulator and talk about the issues that matter to Scotland's over 25,000 charities.
The first episode, available now, discusses the new corporate strategy and features the regulator's Chair an CEO as its guests.
OSCR has also published a new Inquiry Policy, which updates how the regulator will handle concerns raised about charities in Scotland.
The publication follows a financial year (April 2022- March 2023) where OSCR received 634 concerns about charities, only around 35% of which it had any jurisdiction over. The policy seeks to clarify:
The publication of the new policy is designed to improve public confidence in the regulator and to reduce frustration and disappointment with the concerns process. By setting out clearly the matters that OSCR can act on and how will they will do so, it hopes to reduce the number of concerns raised that are outside its responsibilities and make sure that members of the public are better informed by diverting resources previously used on such inquiries in better ways.
OSCR's Head of Regulation and Improvement, Martin Tyson, has published an accompanying blog that discusses OSCR's role as a "regulator, not a mediator" and is a useful primer on the process.
If you've got concerns about how a charity or other third sector organisation in Fife is being run, you can also come to Fife Voluntary Action for guidance. We'll help you to identify what can be done, how, and by whom, and will support you throughout the process.