Consents and Notifications

This page tells charity trustees when they need to get our consent for actions they want to take, and what kinds of things they must notify us about.

The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (the 2005 Act) sets out:

when charities need to get our consent before taking certain actions (Sections 11 and 16 of the 2005 Act)
when charities need to advise us of any actions they have taken (Section 17 of the 2005 Act)

For further information on when you need to contact OSCR please read our postcard.

When do you need to seek OSCR's prior consent?

If you are the trustees of a charity you must seek our consent before:

1. Changing your charity's name	Guidance (in PDF) Guidance (in Word)	Application form
2. Changing your charity's purposes	Guidance (in PDF) Guidance(in Word)	Application form
3. Amalgamating your charity with another body	Guidance in PDF Guidance in Word	Application form
4. Winding up or dissolving your charity	Guidance (in PDF) Guidance (in Word)	Application form
5. Applying to amalgamate with another body, or applying to court to amend your charity's charitable purposes, or to amalgamate, or to wind up	See our Amalgamation page	Application form
6. Applying to court to amend your charity's charitable purposes, or to amalgamate, or to wind up	See below
7. Changing your charity's legal form	Guidance	Application form Notes on how to complete the change of legal form application Charity trustee declaration form Change in legal form (wind up and removal)

If you wish to apply to Court to amend your charity’s purposes, amalgamate it with another body or wind up or dissolve it, you will also need our prior consent to do so. To apply for this you should use the form from the list above which applies to the action for which you are applying to the Court.

You can only take these actions if you have the power to do so. Where you do not have the power, you may wish to consider using the reorganisation provisions of Sections 39-43 of the 2005 Act.

Getting our permission

If you wish to seek our consent you must apply in writing, using the appropriate form above. We need 42 days notice before the date on which the proposed change is to take place. Once we have agreed to the proposed change you must tell us when, if at all, the change is made. This must be done in writing using our Notifications of changes made form.

When do you need to tell us about changes?

If you take the following actions you must tell must tell us about them within three months of their having taken place:

any change to your charity’s principal office (or the name and/or address of the charity trustee specified in the Scottish Charity Register if there is no office)
any change in other details set out in your charity’s Register entry
any change to your charity’s constitution (other than those relating to your charity’s purposes)
any action taken to amalgamate, or wind up or dissolve your charity, or if there is an application to court to do so.

In addition, charities must advise us of the following changes within one month of the change taking place:

any administration order or an order for winding up made by the court in respect of a charity
the appointment of a receiver.

Advising OSCR of changes made

Charities must tell us in writing of changes made using our Notifications of changes made form.

Failure to tell OSCR

If as a charity trustee you take action without our consent where it is required or fail to tell us of changes made you will be in breach of Section 66 of the 2005 Act. Any breach will be treated as misconduct, and appropriate action will be taken.

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