The process of reviewing Scotland's charity law began in 2000, when the Scottish Charity Law Review Commission - commonly known as the McFadden Commission - was established. This Commission issued its formal report in 2001, leading to a draft bill being issued for public consultation in 2004 and subsequently the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 receiving Royal Assent on 14 July 2005.

The main provisions of the new Act were implemented on 24 April 2006 and it was on this date that the new charity regulator, OSCR (Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator) assumed its full powers.

The Act regulates a variety of issues, including duties and responsibilities of charity trustees, accounts and reporting, fundraising, changes to constitutions, charity names and descriptions of charitable status.

OSCR, the charity regulator, is tasked with ensuring charitable organisations across Scotland comply with the new Act but is also bound by the legislation to act proportionately in line with the size of the organisation. See About OSCR for more information.

The main way in which charities will be regulated is via the Annual Return they are now compelled to submit, but OSCR will also have involvement with charities at other points throughout the year, for example if changes to the charity's name or constitution are required.

These resources aim to help your charitable organisation become familiar with the requirements of the new legislation.

• The Information Booklets give a detailed overview of the new Act as well as in-depth information on the topics of Charity Trustees' Duties and Responsibilities as well as Charity Accounts and Reporting.
• The Powerpoint Presentations summarise the contents of the information booklets. These two resources can be used in conjunction to provide training to small staff groups or to management committee members.
• The Charity Law Health Checklist has been designed by CVS Fife as a tool to assess how well organisations are currently complying with the new legislation. The checklist looks at areas such as legal structure, charity trustees and accounts and monitoring to determine the organisation's current level of compliance. This checklist is accompanied by in-depth explanatory notes to allow organisations to complete this on their own, although assistance in this area is also available through CVS Fife.
• The Charity Law Frequently Asked Questions document has been developed by CVS Fife in conjunction with OSCR following the Charity Law Awareness Raising Sessions staged by CVS Fife during Summer 2006. At the end of each session held, delegates were invited to pose questions to CVS Fife staff and these were drawn together into the FAQs document to allow other charities to learn from the issues raised.

Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view the PDF documents on this page. You can download a free copy from www.adobe.com.

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CVS Fife, 23-27 Randolph Street, Buckhaven, Fife KY8 1AT
T: 01592 567001 - E: cvsfife@cvsfife.org

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