Scottish charity law should be reviewed in light of the private school problem, membership body SCVO tells the charity regulator
The charitable status of private schools in Scotland is a problem that highlights the need for a review of charity law, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has said.
The membership body which represents Scottish charities has said the current charity test is too broad and allows bodies which do not provide significant levels of public benefit to become charities.
SCVO made the claim in its response to new Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) guidance on the charity test.
It said the problem of private schools and the growing number of arms-length external organsiations set up by government bodies, such as local leisure trusts, proved that Scotland's ten-year-old charity law should be reviewed.
To attempt to shift the goalposts and propose a move which could only narrow access, and be to the detriment of assisted pupils, is as retrograde as it is poorly-informed - John Edward
“We welcome OSCR’s commitment to maintain a higher vigilance with regard to fee-paying schools but don’t agree that the charity test as it stands is working if it allows schools of this type to have charitable status,” stated SCVO’s response.
“However, we appreciate that this is a complex issue with implications beyond fee-paying schools. The work of the public petitions committee in looking into this is helpful but these issues need further consideration. We hope this can be taken forward as part of a wider review of charitable law as we approach its 10th anniversary.”
The charitable status of fee-paying schools in Scotland has long been an issue of contention. Since 2007, OSCR has reviewed the charitable status of 52 fee-paying schools on the charity register.
Ten failed the test because the regulator believed the fees they paid unduly restricted access to the education the schools provided.
All 10 took action, including increasing bursaries, to meet the test and passed at a later date.
John Edward, director of the Scottish Council of Independent Schools, hit out at SCVO for raising the issue, saying its view was “poorly informed”. He highlighted that OSCR’s review has led to a widening access programme of means-tested fee-assistance that amounts to £29 million each year, a wider programme of community engagement and shared facilities and staff.
“The SCVO, like any other body in Scotland, is entitled to its view,” said Edward.
“It is not, and never has been, responsible for deciding what is or is not a Scottish charity, any more than any independent school is.
“That charity test is tougher than any equivalent in the world, set in place by the Scottish Parliament and overseen by the independent regulator. Almost half of all the charities reviewed in Scotland have been independent schools.
“To attempt to shift the goalposts at this stage and propose a move which could only narrow that access again, and be to the detriment of assisted pupils attending those schools by choice, is as retrograde as it is poorly-informed.
“It would contribute nothing more to the other 95% of Scottish schools, or to the advancement of education or, indeed, help anyone to get involved with their communities – as the SCVO wishes – more than they do already. As the facts have changed, so should opinions.”
The Scottish Parliament’s public petitions committee is currently investigating a petition from campaigner Ashley Husband Powton, which argues that private schools should not be charities.
In its UK parliament manifesto, the Labour Party also said it would look into the charitable status of private schools and suggested there should be much tougher criteria.
