Concerns about charities rose by 25% last year an OSCR report shows

More than a quarter more complaints were made about charities last year than the year before, a new report has shown.

Some 337 concerns were made to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) in 2014/15 - up on the 267 it received in 2013/14.

The regulator received most concerns in March, numbering 40.

Most complaints were classed as issues of "general governance" (25%), the report shows.

The next most common category was service delivery (10% of those investigated), misappropriation of funds (7%) and external disputes or organisations being investigated over charitable status (both 6%).

Only 2% concerned alleged criminal activity and fundraising issues.

Due to a number of charities being deregistered, the register reduced by 47 up to March 2015.

In the previous year it grew by 186 charities. It now shows 23,768 charities are registered in Scotland.

The number of charities submitting acceptable accounts dropped by one percentage point to 80% in 2014/15 and the proportion of charities with OSCR online user accounts grew by 11 points to 83%.

Figures also showed it is taking OSCR longer to register charities. This now takes the regulator an average of 63 days where the year before it took 60.