The Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator has warned that those charities it has yet to establish contact with will be struck off the charity register in March in a move aimed at drawing up an accurate register for Scotland.

OSCR inherited old records from HM Revenue and Customs which, prior to April 2006, granted charitable status in Scotland.

A list of the remaining 5,000 charities that OSCR has been unable to contact has been published on the regulator’s website, www.oscr.org.uk. Scottish trustees are being urged to check the list and make immediate contact with the body if their charity’s name appears on it.

OSCR chief executive Jane Ryder said the removal was the “last chance” for the charities. “We are required to publish and maintain an accurate register and have achieved a huge amount in this regard,” she said. “We have explored every avenue in trying to reach these remaining charities and the time has now come to remove those we believe to be inactive.”