Scottish charity regulator urges advisors and trustees of dormant accounts to ‘act now’

Over 300 inactive charitable trusts of varying sizes and purposes have been identified to date with funds often lying dormant in accounts for several decades and in some cases well over a century.

Since it was established in 2005, OSCR has kept a record of the thousands of charitable trusts which exist across the country, with each charity required to submit an annual return. It is through these regulatory checks that inactive trusts are identified, where they have either had no income or expenditure or donated less than 30 per cent of their total income over the last five years.

The Revitalising Trusts project team then makes contact to offer support and assistance to help reopen, repurpose or wind up the trust, all with the overarching aim to release the funds for public good. Foundation Scotland takes the time to work alongside trustees and legal teams to ensure that any inactive charitable funds are spent and make a difference in keeping with “the spirit” of the original intentions.

The success of the Revitalising Trusts project relies on the cooperation of the law firms managing the hundreds of historic charitable trusts in Scotland. The firm does not need to have a charity specialist as the project team undertakes the work required including the preparation of the reorganisation scheme and the application to OSCR, free of charge.

The project recently worked alongside Masson Glennie in Peterhead to revitalise a number of dormant trusts for the benefit of charities in the area including the RNLI station and the local Men’s Shed.

Bruce Milton, partner at Masson Glennie said: “I was delighted to work with the Revitalising Trusts project as we were able to reactivate what had become dormant money from historic trusts and ultimately provide a boost for our local area.

“From our perspective it was a simple process – the project team picked up the necessary workload using their first-class knowledge, experience and understanding of the processes required. Prior to this, it had been an ongoing annual task to prepare accounts for these trusts and report to OSCR. Not only is this issue now resolved but together we have maximised the funds available, delivering a hugely positive social impact for the community.”