6,838 New CICs — a Record, in a Pandemic, While the Economy Was in the Toilet

Let me just put this number out there: 6,838. That’s how many new CICs were approved in 2021. A 21% increase on 2020, which was itself a 59% increase on 2019. The cumulative register now stands at nearly 24,000 organisations.

In the middle of a pandemic. With supply chains collapsing, labour markets in chaos, and the economic outlook uncertain. People formed CICs at a rate that would have seemed impossible three years ago.

The COVID surge that started in 2020 didn’t just continue in 2021 — it accelerated. Communities that had organised around mutual aid during the first lockdown formalised their structures. New needs emerged as the pandemic dragged on — mental health support, digital inclusion, education catch-up — and new CICs formed to meet them. The 2020 cohort was a crisis response. The 2021 cohort looks more like a structural shift.

The other notable statistic is dissolutions. Only 1,792 CICs were dissolved in 2021 — just 7% of the register, the lowest rate ever. Some of that is due to Companies House easements and government support keeping struggling organisations alive. But some of it reflects genuine resilience. CICs that were formed during the pandemic are surviving.

I’m wary of reading too much into pandemic data. Extraordinary circumstances produce extraordinary numbers, and we shouldn’t assume that 6,838 registrations a year is the new normal. When the economy normalises and government support is withdrawn, we’ll see a correction.

But the underlying trend is unmistakable. The CIC model has passed a tipping point. It’s no longer a niche alternative for social entrepreneurs who couldn’t find a better structure. It’s becoming the default choice for community enterprise in the UK. And that changes everything.

Twenty-four thousand CICs. Six thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight in a single year. These numbers demand a response from policymakers that they’re not getting. The CIC movement has outgrown the infrastructure that supports it. It’s time for the system to catch up.