Britain's fastest-growing social-enterprise legal form — the Community Interest Company — is micro, hyper-local and chronically under-financed. Compiled from Companies House, cictools enrichment and four waves of member surveys.
n = 43,153 active CICsFinancials: XBRL + OCR mergedSurveys: 2013 · 2015 · 2021 · 2025as of May 2026
43,153
active CICs on the register
new incorporations up ~10× since 2015
24%
are headquartered in London
and the highest per-capita density in Britain
£195k
mean turnover, dragged up by the top tail
mean net assets £42k — capital that skips the micro-many
70%
run on five or fewer staff
a micro-movement, not a startup economy
A decade of growth
Annual new CIC incorporations, 2015–2025. 2025 set the record at 9,525; 2026 (to Aug) is already at 4,481 — a ~6,700/yr pace.
What the sector does
Top activity families by share of the register (SIC-mapped).
Education
27.9%12,029
Sports
11.3%4,877
Health
8.7%3,772
Arts
8.2%3,548
Social care
7.9%3,403
Community
7.8%3,365
Business support
7.4%3,207
Media
4.4%1,903
Food
3.6%1,554
Top regions — and per capita
London leads in raw numbers, but on a per-capita basis the story flips: the South West, North West and North East all out-punch the affluent South East. Density = CICs per 100,000 people.
#
Region
CICs
Share
Per 100k
1
London
10,165
23.6%
2
North West
5,309
12.3%
3
South East
4,865
11.3%
4
South West
4,383
10.2%
5
West Midlands
3,644
8.4%
6
Yorkshire & Humber
2,992
6.9%
7
East of England
2,945
6.8%
8
East Midlands
2,224
5.2%
9
Scotland
2,183
5.1%
10
Wales
1,935
4.5%
11
North East
1,818
4.2%
12
Northern Ireland
634
1.5%
Per-capita density — CICs per 100,000 people
Raw count leader — London (23.6%)Per-capita pacesetters — SW, NW, NE
Worth more than most think
CICs sit inside Britain's wider "impact economy", which New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) values at £428 billion a year — roughly 15% of UK GDP. Their category breakdown attributes £5 billion of that annual economic contribution to community interest companies, alongside £13bn from housing associations and ~£50bn from charities.
CIC economic contribution
£5bn
per year, to the UK economy
Wider impact economy
£428bn
≈ 15% of UK GDP
Housing associations
£13bn
contribution within the total
Charities
~£50bn
contribution within the total
Source: New Philanthropy Capital (NPC), "Impact UK" research — impact economy valued at £428bn/yr (≈15% of GDP), with CICs contributing ~£5bn. Reported by Civil Society News, 3 Feb 2026.
The typical vs the top-tail
Every mission-driven legal form shares the same shape: the median (the typical organisation) sits far below the mean (dragged up by a thin top tail). CICs and registered charities are both micro by default. Median is the honest "typical" figure; the gap shows where the money concentrates.
CICs — median
£15.8k
mean £195k (12× gap)
Charities — median
£20–25k
mean ~£500k (top 3/4 micro)
Median (typical)Mean (top-tail inflated)
Sources: CIC Association (merged Companies House XBRL + paper-OCR), 2026 · Charity Commission register income bands, ~£90bn / ~161k reporting charities. Median = typical; mean = top-tail inflated.
Four waves, barely a change
The same questions since 2013 — and the same structural answers. Read trends, not absolutes.
Finding
2013
2015
2021
2025
≤5 employees
—
72%
73%
74%
Tried to raise finance (12 mo)
43%
60%
48%
44%
CIC status a positive for trading
—
72%
67%
72%
CIC awareness a negative
—
33%
48%
43%
Positive 12-mo outlook
—
—
77%
66%
Regulator doing a good job
—
—
33%
18%
Unsure about the regulator
—
—
60%
75%
Grants as primary funding
62%
63%
—
—
The picture that never changesRegulator confidence is sliding