Co-operative Futures Services - Selecting legal structures and registration

Services for Co-operative and Community Owned Enterprises

Selecting legal structures and registration

Choosing the right legal structure for your enterprise goes a long way to helping things run smoothly and successfully. It also provides a means by which to enter into legally binding agreements such as leases or employment contracts, and it gives the members the assurance of limited liability.

A legal structure comprises the legal form - what you are in the eyes of the law - and the governing document: the purpose of the organisation, its powers and how it will operate. There are a number of legal forms to choose from, including private limited companies, community interest companies and industrial and provident societies.

For many people, this is a daunting part of setting up in business and an area that can cause long-term problems if the wrong decision is reached at the outset.

Co-operative Futures provides specialist advice for co-operative and community owned enterprises on choosing a legal structure and can also help you to register your chosen legal form.

Thames Valley Farmers' Market now has a clear identity as a co-operative backed up by a legal structure which ensures members are actively engaged in the running of the business but with the assurance of limited liability.

Read our case study on Thames Valley Farmers' Market (pdf link)

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