# SCVO becomes a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/07/09/scvo-becomes-scottish-charitable-incorporate-organisation/
- Published: 2014-07-09T13:03:33+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has adopted a new legal 
structure and become a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO). This
structure allows Scottish charities to become corporate bodies, and benefit from
limited liability, without being subject to company law.

An SCIO is a legal entity which can enter into contracts, employ staff, incur debts,
own property, sue and be sued. Designed specifically for Scottish charities, it 
helps simplify their regulatory reporting: unlike charities that are companies limited
by guarantee, SCIOs have the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) as 
a single regulator.

According to OSCR, **1,172 charities in Scotland have registered as SCIO’s**.

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Lucy McTernan, Deputy Chief Executive, SCVO said:

> “Being a charity is all about changing people’s lives for the better and there’s
> a lot more to that than purely meeting financial obligations. This specialised
> structure for charities takes this into account and means that even the smallest
> charity can enjoy the benefits of incorporation, including limited liability, 
> without having to comply with company law.”

 

**The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations**

The [Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations](http://www.scvo.org.uk) (SCVO)
is the national body representing the interests of charities, voluntary organisations
and social enterprises. The Scottish third sector turns over £4.9 billion a year
and employs 138,000 people in over 45,000 organisations.

 * **[OSCR launches new logo for charity use](https://fundraising.co.uk/2016/01/20/oscr-launches-new-logo-charity-use/)**(
   20 January 2016)
 * **[Combined income of Scottish charities reaches £14bn](https://fundraising.co.uk/2023/05/04/combined-income-of-scottish-charities-reaches-14bn/)**(
   4 May 2023)
 * **[More than half of charities in Scotland have an income below £25k](https://fundraising.co.uk/2024/05/10/more-than-half-of-charities-in-scotland-have-an-income-below-25k/)**(
   10 May 2024)