We are proud to announce that we have now secured transfer of Whitefield Bowling Club Co Ltd into Whitefield Bowling Club Community Interest Company.
The shareholders (owners) agreed last year for the transfer to take place and after a great deal of hard work and substantial costs, this project is now complete. We will be working with partners to further establish the direction and intent of the new Community Interest Company (CiC). We are also finalising the membership detail to open up our new membership for the beginning of November 2021.
Our CiC is a relatively new type of company which was established by the government in 2005 under the Companies (Audit, Investigations and Community Enterprise) Act 2004. The intention of introducing the community interest company was to allow social enterprises who want to use their profits and assets for the public good and provide benefits to a community or a specific section of a community.
The Directors must make sure that the community interest companies are not:
- Politically motivated.
- Set up to serve an unduly restrictive group.
- Operating as a charity.
- Carry out any unlawful activities.
The advantages of being a community interest company:
- Asset Lock: This is the essential feature of a community interest company and it ensures that our entire assets (land and buildings) are used exclusively for the benefit of the community. Any assets and profits are retained within the company and they are further utilised for the community benefit or for the social purpose. However, there are certain cases where assets could be transferred, but only to the other asset-locked bodies – i.e. to those organisations which already have an asset lock, which implies that assets could be transferred to charities, or to the other community interest companies.
- We provide continuity of purpose: Once a community interest company is incorporated, it will continue to provide benefit to the community until it is dissolved or converted into a charity. And in case, it gets dissolved at any stage under the Insolvency Act 1986, any residual assets, after getting confirmation from its creditors, will be transferred to another asset-locked body such as charity or another community interest company.
- The community interest company provides limited liability for its members.
- We as a community interest company can take advantage of a company’s risk-taking feature by accessing the debt markets for loans and bonds such as the intended rebuild project should grants not be available.
- A community interest company may find community development finance institutions a valuable source of funds and readily accessible.
- Community interest companies are well understood by the business community.
- As compared to other charitable company, Community Interest Company has greater flexibility in terms of activities, no trustees and no trustee control, fewer reporting and administration requirements.
- Statutory provisions that prevent its members attempting to remove the asset lock by the special resolution.
- Transparency of directors’ remuneration and use of assets.
- It has legal protection from demutualisation and windfall profits being paid to directors and members.
- It has timely checks by the community interest company legislation.
- Regulation ensures the community interest company maintains the asset lock and we provide benefit to the community we were set up to serve
