The group, which represents the country’s 50,000 voluntary organisations, made the comments in its response to proposals from the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator for an interim monitoring programme for charities while the sector awaits new charities legislation.

Under the programme charities would be asked to submit a copy of their annual report and accounts. OSCR may then contact them for further information so that it can oversee charities fundraising, governance and compliance.

However, SCVO argues that the regulator should hold off implementing detailed monitoring programmes until after charities legislation is enacted next year. In the meantime, it argues for a lighter touch.

“It is naïve to assume that all Scottish charities are currently equipped to respond to requests for high levels of information about their operations,” says SCVO’s director of corporate affairs Lucy McTernan. “Very few will have established systems to collect data beyond basic financial data for the current year. It is unrealistic and undesirable to expect the entire sector to adjust quickly to working with OSCR within the current legal system and then adject again – in probably less than two years – to meet the new requirements.”