Firestarter Podcast 8 - Community Interest Companies part 2

This is the Firestarter Podcast which is the world's first podcast for social enterprises in health.

This week's podcast features an interview with Adrian Ashton looking at the pros and cons of Community Interest Companies (CICs). This is part 2 of the interview and was recorded at Cafe 72 in Todmorden - the most child-friendly cafe we have ever seen :)

This podcast covers:

• If you need to raise funding in the early stages, being limited by shares is extremely useful
• The legal structure you will need to be in the NHS pension scheme
• Why CICs are being pushed .... sometimes inappropriately
• CICs cannot be established for political activity or for campaigning

Main cons of being a CIC - part 2 

• The power the regulator has to remove directors, appoint directors and dissolve the CIC without any consultation
• The regulator can overule the wishes of the CIC's own community
• The power the regulator has to restrict your trading activity
• The power the regulator has to instigate civil proceedings (i.e. sue people) on your behalf without your consent
• The asset lock restricts the level of interest payments to an outside investor or institution

More from Adrian at www.adrianashton.co.uk

Podcast 8 - This can be downloaded here (19 Mb)

The music is "Fire Dance" by djbouly and is brought to you under a creative commons licence.