Company and community

6Continuity of purpose

As a type of limited company, a community interest company has its own legal status and will therefore continue in operation – and able to provide benefit to the community – until it is dissolved or converted into a charity. Even if it is dissolved, a specific feature of the CIC model is that any residual assets (after paying off any creditors) must be transferred to another asset-locked body, like another CIC or a charity. This ensures that funds invested in a CIC will continue to benefit social or charitable ends, even if the CIC itself is no more.

 These advantages stand alongside many of the other standard benefits of a limited company.

Compared to setting up as a charity, a CIC offers several further advantages: