Community Interest Company
The Community Interest Company, or CIC, is a particular type of limited company, run to provide benefits to the community or to a particular section of the community. Social enterprises and community enterprises are often CICs. A CIC cannot be a charity.
Features
- As a CIC is a company, it has all the features of a company.
- There is an asset lock which means that the company’s assets or profits cannot be disposed of for less than their full market value and, if the CIC is dissolved, any remaining assets are protected for community or charitable purposes.
- There is a community interest statement which is a broad explanation of the social or community purpose of the company.
- The CIC regulator will approve an application to register a CIC with Companies House only if the community interest statement passes the community interest test.
- In addition to annual accounts, a CIC must present an annual community interest company report to the CIC regulator.