The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) has announced they will be upgrading OSCR Online, the system registered charities in Scotland use to submit their annual return to OSCR.
Every year, every registered charity in Scotland must send OSCR a set of accounts, a trustees’ annual report and an external scrutiny report. Charities do this by completing an online annual return using OSCR Online.
Although it will keep the same name, OSCR Online has been rebuilt from the ground up with a number of new features, including:
- a new look
- the option to nominate 3 individual users to access a charity’s record, removing the need to share a charity’s login details
- improved links to OSCR’s latest news and social channels
The information OSCR requires charities to submit as part of their annual return will not change at this time.
Maintenance
Before the upgrade happens, there will be a period of maintenance from TODAY, Friday 15th July until Sunday 24th July where the system will be unavailable.
If your charity has an annual return deadline during this time, please submit the information now if it is possible. If you need support doing this, please contact OSCR by email: info@oscr.org.uk
Upgrade Launch
The upgraded version of OSCR Online will be live from Monday 25th July.
Registered charities will be able to access it by visiting the main OSCR website; however, they can also find it by using the same website address as the current system.
Logging into the New OSCR Online for the First Time
The way each user will log into the new OSCR Online will change.
From Monday 25th July, every person listed with OSCR as a principal contact for a charity will receive an email telling them that they are an OSCR Online user for the charity they are currently associated with. They will also receive a new password for accessing OSCR Online. These charity users will also then have the option to invite up to another 2 users to access a charity’s record.
People listed as principal contacts should check their email inbox and junk email folders for these invites. Anyone who is a principal contact of a charity and has not received an invitation to the new system by Sunday 31st July should contact OSCR by email: info@oscr.org.uk
When logging into OSCR Online after the upgrade, users will be asked for the Scottish charity number for the charity they want to submit information for – if you do not know this number, you can find it via the Scottish Charity Register search (linked for your convenience).
The questions asked by OSCR, as part of a charity’s online annual return, will not change after the upgrade.
Support and Feedback
The easiest place to find out about the new system, and how to use it, is via the OSCR website and their updated guidance for charities on submitting an annual return.
The Frequently Asked Questions are also available to view online.
Although OSCR has a roadmap for new OSCR Online features over the coming months, they also welcome feedback to help improve the system. Feedback can be sent by email: communications@oscr.org.uk
For further information, please visit the OSCR website.
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