Two new Acts come into force: The Carers Act and The Lobbying Act.

Scottish Government have announced two new acts, The Carers Act and The Lobbying Act.

Carers Act

Members will be well aware of the Carers Act, which came into force on 1^st April this year. The Coaliation of Carers in Scotland have produced a number of useful resources and information leaflets to help everyone understand the implication of the Act, which you can find here:

http://www.carersnet.org/carers-act-resources/

Lobbying Act

Many of you will be aware of the Lobbying Act, which came into force on 12^th March. The Act creates a definition of regulated lobbying, and only instances of regulated lobbying will require to be recorded on the new Lobbying Register. There are a range of exemptions in relation to the register, e.g for organisations with fewer than 10 paid full time staff, and it is only quite specific cases of lobbying that will meet the definition and therefore require to be recorded. The Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) has a blog with a good amount of information:

https://www.oscr.org.uk/blog/2017/december/05/the-lobbying-scotland-act-2016-and-what-it-means-for-your-charity

and you can find out more at:

www.lobbying.scot

or by contacting the Lobbying Register Team:

• Telephone: 0131 348 5408 · Email: lobbying@parliament.scot

Coming into force!

GDPR the word on everyone’s lips comes into force on the 25th of May , if you want to find more information for charities click here.