There are a variety of possible legal structures for your social enterprise. Here are some useful resources to help you select the right one:
Choosing a legal structure for your social enterprise
Brief guide to legal structures (pdf download)
An overview of the different types of community food enterprise legal structures.
Community Interest Company (CIC) factsheet (pdf download)
A specific guide to the Community Interest Company (CIC) structure.
Legal structures at a glance (pdf download)
Useful one page cribsheet comparing legal structures for social enterprises
Select a structure tool (pdf download)
A factsheet from Cooperatives UK to help you choose the right structure for you.
Simply legal (pdf download)
Cooperatives UK guide from their brilliant Simply range.
Other resources from the Plunkett Foundation
Structuring your social enterprise
Resource Centre (Sussex)
This is a really useful website for community groups.
It contains information on social enterprises and cooperatives, including links to information on enterprise structures.
Guides to the process of starting a cooperative community enterprise from Cooperatives UK
- Simply start-up (pdf download 2.0MB)
- Simply governance (pdf download 2.2MB)
- Simply legal (pdf dowload 1.3MB)
- Simply finance (pdf download 1.95MB)
Planning and managing your social enterprise
Economic change – social enterprise toolbox
A comprehensive 60 page guide for a business leader at any stage of running their social enterprise. Its purpose is to help you undertake a considered and structured analysis of how well you are planning and managing your business. Economic change provides management solutions to help organisations improve their efficiency, sustainability and socio-economic impact.