01 Identity
Scottish charity record
- OSCR charity number
- SC017167
- Status
- Active
- Regulatory type
- Standard
- Designated religious body
- No
- Geographical spread
- Scotland and other parts of the UK
- Volunteers
- 1-50 volunteers
- Staff
- 345
- Postcode
- EH11 1PZ
OSCR note: Previous legal name Royal Blind Asylum & School from 16 January 1923 to 27 March 2024.
02 Purpose and work
What the charity exists to do
Sight Scotland, formerly Royal Blind, is Scotland’s largest visual impairment organisation, dedicated to addressing visual impairment challenges for over 230 years. Our services support people at all stages of sight loss and include learning services, community support, residential care, enterprise, and research funding. The Royal Blind School now serves children and young people with complex needs and offers outreach services to local authorities. The Scottish Braille Press focuses on transcribing large print and audio documents, primarily for the financial sector. Our residential care services, Forward Vision and Allermuir, and our after-school and holiday club, Kidscene, have been operating for over a decade. In more recent times, we established our Community Services, through which we are able to provide support to people within their communities and through our helpline across the whole of Scotland.
Charitable purposes
- the advancement of education
- the advancement of health
- the provision of recreational facilities, or the organisation of recreational activities, with the object of improving the conditions of life for the persons for whom the facilities or activities are primarily intended
- the promotion of equality and diversity
- the relief of those in need by reason of age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage
Beneficiaries
- Children or young people
- Older People
- People with disabilities or health problems
Activities
- It makes grants, donations, loans, gifts or pensions to individuals
- It makes grants, donations or gifts to organisations
- It carries out activities or services itself
Constitutional objectives
The objects of the Organisation shall be: (a) the advancement of education of the Visually Impaired. (b) the advancement of health, particularly eye health (including the prevention or relief of sickness, disease or human suffering). (c) the provision of recreational facilities, or the organisation of recreational activities, with the object of improving the conditions of life for the Visually Impaired. (d) the promotion of equality and diversity. and (e) the relief of those in need by reason of Visual Impairment (including relief given by the provision of accommodation or care).
03 Annual returns
Income and expenditure history
| Year end | Income | Expenditure | Staff | Return received |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 March 2025 | £21,067,000 | £20,674,000 | 345 | 29 October 2025 |
| 31 March 2024 | £17,144,000 | £18,666,000 | 345 | 26 September 2024 |
| 31 March 2023 | £13,669,000 | £16,011,000 | 345 | 17 January 2024 |
| 31 March 2022 | £12,787,000 | £13,908,000 | 345 | 19 December 2022 |
| 31 March 2021 | £19,971,000 | £24,136,000 | 345 | 15 December 2021 |
Figures are those reported by the charity and supplied in the OSCR bulk download. Blank facts remain distinct from zero.
04 Contact record
Principal office or trustees address
- Address supplied to OSCR
- 2A, Robertson Avenue, Edinburgh
- Website supplied to OSCR
- www.sightscotland.org.uk
- Parent charity
- Not supplied
No direct external links on this profile. The official OSCR record and source documentation are available through BritDB’s dedicated source page.
05 Provenance
Source for this profile
© Crown Copyright and database right 2026. Contains information from the Scottish Charity Register supplied by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0. BritDB is an independent service and does not claim to be the Scottish Charity Register.