A Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) is a new legal body (with effect from April 2011) for charities registered in Scotland.

What is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation?

• It is not subject to the same reporting and regulatory requirements as a company.
• It can enter into transactions on its own behalf, rather than by its charity trustees on its behalf.
• The charity trustees are in general protected from incurring personal liability.? (However this protection is not absolute and charity trustees individually may be held responsible for the actions of the SCIO).
• As well as being an option for new charities, existing Scottish charities currently set up under other legal structures may convert to SCIO form.
• SCIOs report only to the?Office the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) . While charities which are companies have to report to both OSCR?and Companies House.
• OSCR monitors a SCIO?s charity law compliance in Scotland.

How Do You Establish a SCIO?

• Apply to OSCR
• Show that the SCIO will meet the charity test by having purposes that are wholly charitable
• You will actively provide benefit to the public.

?What requirements apply specifically to SCIOs?

• Any literature must state its name and the fact that it is a SCIO (if its name does not already do so). It is also recommended that literature includes the charity number.
• SCIOs must have a head office in Scotland.
• A SCIO must hold a meeting of its members at least once in every 15 months.
• It must follow specific rules about mergers with other charities, asset transfers and how it dissolves.
• A SCIO can only exist as long as it is a charity entered in the Scottish Charity Register.? Unlike other charities, SCIOs cannot carry on operating if they cease to be charities. One final point to consider is that the conversion to the SCIO status is a 'One Way Street' in that once you are a SCIO you cannot convert to an alternative legal form or combine with a non-SCIO charity. The only option for moving away from SCIO legal form would be to dissolve the SCIO, transferring its funds, assets and activities to another charity with similar purposes that had an alternative legal form.

Please contact our team if you would like any additional information.