SCVO media release
9 July 2014
For immediate release
The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has become a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO). This new legal structure, which has been purpose built for the charity sector in Scotland, allows Scottish charities to become corporate bodies, and benefit from limited liability, without being subject to company law.
Lucy McTernan, Deputy Chief Executive, SCVO said:
“By becoming a SCIO and reporting solely to OSCR (Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator) rather than both OSCR and Companies House, we’re confident that SCVO is being regulated by an organisation that fully understands charities and the importance of protecting the public’s trust in the wider charity brand.
“Being a charity is all about changing people’s lives for the better and there’s a lot more to that than purely meeting financial obligations. This specialised structure for charities takes this into account and means that even the smallest charity can enjoy the benefits of incorporation, including limited liability, without having to comply with company law.”
David Robb, Chief Executive, OSCR, the charity regulator, said:
“It's encouraging to see the SCIO legal form proving popular and it’s good to see SCVO showing leadership in this way. Of the applications coming to us for charitable status, we now see more SCIOs than any other legal form, with a notable drop in companies limited by guarantee. The SCIO is flexible and clearly here to stay, and it's good to see that funders and banks increasingly recognise that.”
This change coincides with SCVO launching a
consultation on its future plans.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) is the national body representing the interests of charities, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. The Scottish third sector turns over £4.9 billion a year and employs 138,000 people in over 45,000 organisations.
2. The Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) is a new legal form for registered Scottish charities. The SCIO is a corporate body which is a legal entity able to enter into contracts, employ staff, incur debts, own property, sue and be sued. Unlike charities that are companies limited by guarantee, SCIOs have OSCR as a single regulator. The SCIO provides another option for bodies wishing to register as charities, and for existing Scottish charities wishing to adopt a different constitutional form.
More information on SCIOs is available from SCVO and
OSCR
3. So far 1,172 charities in Scotland have registered as SCIOs (source: OSCR)
4. For more details, please contact Charlotte McNeill, Communications & Press Officer, SCVO on 0779 060 1995
Last modified on 23 January 2020
