Regulator issues guidance after probe into bishop accounts claim

The charity regulator has made a number of recommendations to the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney after an investigation into claims which included allegations against Scotland's first female bishop.

Papers lodged with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) in 2022 and 2024 included claims that the Right Reverend Anne Dyer had the right to veto any decision made by trustees and that she oversaw the submission of five sets of "misleading and untrue" accounts.

The claims were "emphatically" denied by Bishop Dyer.

The diocese said the OSCR's recommendations had been "fully addressed".

In a statement issued to BBC Scotland News, the regulator said it had concluded its inquiry.

It made "a number of recommendations to support the charity going forward, including some relating to collective responsibility, related party agreements, trustee remuneration and how the accounts are presented".

A spokesperson for the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney said: "We welcome the support of OSCR and its recommendations, which have been fully addressed by the Diocesan standing committee.

"We hope that OSCR's involvement has reassured those who raised concerns."

In 2022, Bishop Dyer was suspended by the Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney, following claims of bullying.

She was due to face a disciplinary tribunal but the church's procurator Paul Reid KC decided last year it was not in the public interest to pursue matters, despite finding there was enough evidence to provide a "realistic prospect" of conviction under church law.

Bishop Dyer welcomed the result at the time and began a phased return to work.

But four of the church's bishops - including the Primus, the Most Reverend Mark Strange - later urged her to reconsider.

In an open letter he asked her to consider "whether she is still the right person to lead the Diocese".

Bishop Dyer described the intervention as "ill-considered and inflammatory" and accused her colleagues of threatening her in "an unprofessional and un-Christian manner".

This prompted 23 clergy and lay members of the Scottish Episcopal Church from Shetland and a priest based in Orkney to write their own open letter in support of her return.

Last month, Bishop Dyer told BBC Radio Shetland it was now time to try to "move forward" and vowed to rebuild trust and relationships in the church.