The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) is undertaking a review of private schools to ensure they comply with the requirements of The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005.
The legislation sets out a 'charity test'. This 'test' specifies that a charity must have a charitable purpose, use its assets for charitable purposes, not be subject to ministerial control or party political and must provide public benefit.
The "public benefit" element focuses on the following relevant to a charity's activities:
- the extent to which any private benefit will be gained;
- whether any disbenefit is likely to be incurred by the public; and
- where only a section of the public are to benefit, whether any condition on receiving that benefit (including any charge or fee) is unduly restrictive.
OSCR has been carrying out individual charity reviews since 2006, focusing on "categories" of charities in which there may be issues to be considered around whether the test is being met. Private/Independent schools have been prime candidates because of the fees charged and the sector has also been subject to previous OSCR review.
OSCR published its findings in relation to the first batch of 13 schools under the current review on 11 January 2013. Of the 13 schools reviewed, 10 passed and 3 did not meet the "public benefit" test.
Regarding the three schools that did not meet the test, OSCR considered that insufficient measures had been taken to mitigate high fees, or otherwise to widen access to the benefit they provide (for example through provision of sufficient levels of access to bursaries).
The schools that did not meet the test will retain their charitable status but have eighteen months to address the issues identified by OSCR in order to widen the public benefit that they provide.
A review of independent schools by charity regulators is a contentious issue in both Scotland and England & Wales (where review is undertaken by the Charity Commission – view our previous update). It is an issue that has thrown up interesting information in the past, including on comparative costs of education and, in areas such as Edinburgh, the percentage of pupils in the state and independent schools sector.
OSCR's review of the 13 schools can be accessed here.
The next batch of schools confirmed to undergo review are: Struthers Memorial Church, Fernhill School Ltd, Belmont House Ltd, St Margaret's School for Girls, Wellington School Ayr Ltd, Kelvinside Academy War Memorial Trust, Glenalmond College and Robert Gordon's College.
Disclaimer
The material contained in this article is of the nature of general comment only and does not give advice on any particular matter. Recipients should not act on the basis of the information in this e-update without taking appropriate professional advice upon their own particular circumstances.
