New help for social enterprises
Today Helen was on the Commons standing committee that approved two new measures on social enterprises.
Helen said, “Together these two measures will protect the assets of social enterprise and reduce their running costs, enabling them to concentrate on their real purposes.”
The instruments are the Community Benefit Societies Regulations 2006 and the Friendly and Industrial and Provident Societies Act Order 2006.
The first statutory instrument makes provision to allow community benefit societies to introduce a rule to ensure, that on dissolution or amalgamation, their assets will permanently be used to benefit the community. Often referred to as an ‘asset lock’, this serves to eliminate the possibility that a society’s accumulated assets could be distributed to members following conversion to a company incorporated under the Companies Acts.
This statutory instrument will raise the threshold above which non-charitable Industrial and Provident Societies (IPSs) are required to appoint an auditor to audit their end of year accounts and balance sheets to £5.6m turnover and £2.8 balance sheet total, in line with the existing thresholds for non-charitable companies. It will also raise the asset level to £2.8m for charitable societies, whilst leaving the turnover amount at £250,000.
Filed under: Uncategorized on January 31st, 2006
