What's a Community Interest Company ?
About CICs
The Big Cran Company is a registered "not for profit" and Community Interest Company (CIC). The CIC model is designed to provide an effective legal framework for social enterprises which aim to provide benefit to the community or to trade with a social purpose rather than to make a profit.
A Community Interest Company is a relatively new type of legal framework for businesses, established in UK company law by the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004 . Community Interest Companies are regulated by both UK Company Law - The Companies Act 2006 (as is every UK based business) - as well as by a separate and independent government regulator, The Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies, who are governed by The Community Interest Company Regulations 2005.
The "asset lock" is an essential feature of all CICs and is designed to ensure that the assets of the CIC are used exclusively for the benefit of the community. Any assets and profits must be retained within the CIC and used solely for community benefit. The only bodies to which assets are allowed to be transferred are other “asset-locked bodies” – i.e. those organisations which already have an asset lock. This means that assets may only be transferred to charities, or to other CICs.
