Registered charities in Scotland are entitled to 80% mandatory rates relief where a building is wholly or mainly used for charitable purposes. That is not a favour. It is what Parliament provided. The extra 20% is discretionary. The 80% is not.

In practice, many small and volunteer-led organisations find the process confusing, inconsistent, and built around proving continuous physical presence — a staffed front door, a shop-like pattern of use — rather than the charitable purpose of the occupation.

That is a poor fit for how community groups actually work. Village halls, arts rooms, food projects, shared desks and spaces given to other groups are often used intermittently, upstairs, in the evenings, or by more than one organisation. That can still be genuine charitable use. A darkened doorway on a Tuesday morning is not the statutory test.

The cost of that mismatch falls on volunteer trustees, answering letters at nights and weekends, while the file moves through a system designed first to bill and recover. Some applications are handled well. Too many are not. When the same difficulties appear in different parts of the country, the problem is the process, not one difficult officer.

Why RateWatch is needed

Most small charities cannot take this on alone.

Two-thirds of Scottish charities have no paid staff. They should not need a rates specialist to receive a relief the law already grants.

RateWatch exists so they do not start from a blank page. We document what is happening. We share practical knowledge between charities, community groups and volunteers. And we work for the system to apply the existing test as Parliament intended — supporting genuine charitable use of buildings, rather than putting unnecessary barriers in the way.

We are not asking for a free pass. We are asking for the law as written to be applied with a proper account of how voluntary organisations use a building.

The 80% is already the law. RateWatch is needed because too many groups still cannot reach it.