Public appointment: Chair appointed to Scottish Charity Regulator Board

The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice and Housing, Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP, today announced the appointment of Pauline Radcliffe as Chair of the Scottish Charity Regulator Board.

Chair

Pauline Radcliffe brings more than 34 years of cross-sector experience supporting and delivering strategic leadership, grant funding, organisational development and sustainable public and third sector services across Scotland. A values-driven leader, she has held a range of executive and non-executive roles, most recently serving as Chair of the CLD Standards Council for Scotland (since May 2026) and Chief Executive of the SCQF Partnership (until December 2025).Pauline has also worked as a Scottish Government policy adviser in tertiary education and has held Accountable Officer and Company Secretary responsibilities for several regional and national charitable and public sector organisations. In addition, she has chaired a number of Scottish voluntary organisations in a voluntary capacity. Alongside her non-executive commitments, Pauline runs a consultancy that supports organisations to review, rethink and redesign the way they operate, helping them to deliver fairer and more impactful outcomes for the people and communities they serve.

Appointment

The appointment will be for four years and will run from 1 December 2026 to 30 November 2030.

The appointment is regulated by the Ethical Standards Commissioner.

Remuneration

The appointment is part-time and attracts a remuneration of £308.64 per day for a time commitment of four days per month.

Other ministerial appointments

Pauline Radcliffe does not hold any other public appointments.

Political activity

All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. However, in accordance with the original Nolan recommendations, there is a requirement for appointees’ political activity within the last five years (if there is any to be declared) to be made public.

Pauline Radcliffe has undertaken no political activity within the last five years.

Background

The Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) is a Non-Ministerial Office and part of the Scottish Administration following commencement of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005.

OSCR is the independent regulator and registrar for around 25,000 Scottish charities. This includes community groups, religious charities, schools, universities, grant-giving charities and major care providers. Based in Dundee it has around 40 members of staff. Its work as Regulator ultimately supports public confidence in charities and their work.

OSCR's general functions are set out in the 2005 Act: to determine whether bodies are charities; to keep a public register of charities; to encourage, facilitate and monitor compliance by charities with the provisions of this Act;  to identify and investigate apparent misconduct in the administration of charities and to take remedial or protective action in relation to such misconduct; to give information or advice, or to make proposals, to the Scottish Ministers on matters relating to OSCR's functions.