The number of incident reports submitted to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator fell by more than 100 last year, latest figures show. 

The regulator’s annual report, published today, shows it received 527 incident reports in the year to the end of March compared with 638 in the previous year.

Of these reports, the regulator opened 210 inquiry cases, down from 228 in the previous year. 

The report also shows the OSCR received 770 new applications for charitable status, compared with 867 in the previous year.

According to the report, 24,975 charities were on OSCR’s register at the end of March 2024.

Of these charities, 2,520 were not up to date with filing their annual return and accounts, the OSCR said. 

“We removed 400 inactive charities from the Scottish Charity Register that failed to submit their accounts to us,” the report reads.

The regulator received 10 whistleblowing reports in 2023/24, up from eight in the previous year.

“Nine of the concerns received were assessed as requiring OSCR to open inquiries, six of these inquiries are still ongoing,” the regulator said.

The OSCR said 2023/24 had been a “positive and productive year” for the organisation.

“We started the year with the launch of our 2023-26 corporate strategy, setting out how we will work as a modern, forward-thinking regulator, and outlining our priorities and planned outcomes for the next three years,” it said.

“The Charities (Regulation and Administration) (Scotland) Act 2023 received royal assent in August 2023, and work started on the planning and delivery around the implementation of the act.

“In addition to this, we launched our new regulatory priorities, continued streamlining our work and embracing public service reform principles to help ensure we regulate in a way that is efficient and effective.”

The legislation made changes to charity law in Scotland, including giving the OSCR the power to open inquiries into defunct charities and enabling the regulator to appoint interim trustees to charities when it had not been requested by the organisation in question.

The regulator’s staff costs increased to £2.6m in 2023/24, compared with £2.4m in the previous year.