# The Charities Accounts (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations amend the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (“the principal Regulations”). They are made under powers in the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (“the 2005 Act”).
The principal Regulations, amongst other things, require certain charities to prepare a statement of account in accordance with the methods and principles set out in a separate statement of recommended practice for charities (referred to as “the SORP” in the principal Regulations). In October 2025 a new statement of recommended practice was published. Regulation 3(2) updates the definition of the SORP to take account of that publication, which is available at https://www.charitysorp.org/. Regulation 3(7) makes a similar change in relation to the statement of recommended practice applicable to charities which are further and higher education institutions (ISBN 978-1-84036-535-1). Regulation 2 provides that these changes do not apply to accounts covering financial years beginning before 1 January 2026 (so the new statements of recommended practice are applicable to financial years beginning on or after that date).
The principal Regulations make provision about the audit or independent examination of the statements of account prepared by charities. Section 10(2) of the Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Act 2023 (“the 2023 Act”) amends section 44 of the 2005 Act to require charities to have an auditor or independent examiner prepare an independent report on accounts and to send a copy of that to OSCR. Regulation 3(3)(a) amends regulation 5 of the principal Regulations so that the time limit for a charity sending a copy of its statement of account to OSCR (not more than 9 months after the end of the charity’s financial year) also applies to the sending of the associated independent report on accounts. Regulation 3(5)(b) and (c) and (6)(d) make other amendments reflecting the changes made by section 10(2) of the 2023 Act. Regulation 1(3) provides for these amendments to come into force when section 10(2)(a) of the 2023 Act does so.
Regulation 3(3)(b) corrects a typographical error.
Regulation 3(4) amends regulation 6(1) of the principal Regulations to increase the income threshold for the preparation of consolidated accounts from £500,000 to £1,000,000. This change applies to accounts covering financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2026 (see regulation 2).
Regulation 3(5)(a) amends regulation 10(1) of the principal Regulations to increase the audit income threshold (above which a charity must have its statement of account audited rather than independently examined) from £500,000 to £1,000,000. Regulation 3(6)(a) makes the corresponding change to regulation 11 of the principal Regulations (independent examination of statement of account). These changes apply to accounts covering financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2026 (see regulation 2).
Regulation 3(6)(b) and (c) update the list of organisations whose members may independently examine a charity’s statement of account where that is prepared on a fully accrued accounts basis.
Regulation 3(8) inserts a new regulation 15 into the principal Regulations. The new regulation permits charities (in certain circumstances) to omit from their statement of account information which the principal Regulations would otherwise require to be included. It provides that a charity is not required to include in its statement of account any information that is excluded from the charity’s entry in the Scottish Charity Register by virtue of section 3(4) of the 2005 Act (names and addresses of trustees or principal office where inclusion would be likely to jeopardise the safety or security of any person or premises). It also provides a mechanism for OSCR to grant a “safety or security dispensation” which would permit the charity to omit the name and address of any person, or the address of any premises, where the inclusion of that information in a statement of account would be likely to jeopardise the safety or security of any person or premises (whether or not the same person or premises as are covered by the dispensation). This new regulation does not affect any requirement which arises other than under the principal Regulations.
Regulation 3(9) amends schedule 2 to remove specific provisions about exclusion of information where those are rendered obsolete by the general provision in the inserted regulation 15.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2025/341/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/charities-accounts-scotland-amendment-regulations-2025/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.