Great interest in Community Interest Companies

Great interest in Community Interest Companies

21.06.07

The thousandth Community Interest Company, a legal form only available since July 2005, was registered last week.

City Healthcare Partnership CIC will provide primary and community health services
across the City of Hull and is being established by staff at Hull Primary Care Trust.

CICs are easy to set up, with all the flexibility and certainty of the company form, but with some special features to ensure they are working for the benefit of the community. Key features include:

– a statutory “lock” on the assets and profits of CICs;

– a “community interest test” which companies must pass in order to be registered;

– an annual report explaining how their activities have benefited the community and how they are involving their stakeholders;

– a CIC regulator responsible for ensuring that CICs comply with their legal requirements.

FOr an introduction to CICs, see this Social Enterprise Coalition guide:
http://www.socialenterprise.org.uk/Page.aspx?SP=1626.