Hiyed CIC Won an Award — and That's More Important Than Any Policy Change

Hiyed CIC won the National Small Business Awards Business Hero this year. They’re a Bishop Auckland-based CIC that provides employment support to people with disabilities and health conditions. They’re small, community-rooted, and focused on a specific need that the mainstream employment system wasn’t meeting.

Their success is worth more than a hundred policy papers.

I’ve spent twenty years arguing about structures, regulations, and market infrastructure. Those arguments matter. The dividend cap, the FSMA exemption, the social investment gap — these are real issues that affect thousands of CICs. But at the end of the day, the CIC model is judged by results. And Hiyed CIC is a result.

They’re the kind of organisation that the CIC model was designed for. A specific community need. A businesslike approach to meeting it. A structure that ensures the benefits stay in the community. A governance framework that provides accountability. They didn’t need special treatment or policy support. They used the CIC model as it was intended to be used, and they delivered results that won national recognition.

The award matters because it puts a face on the numbers. When people hear “37,000 CICs” or “£18 billion economic contribution,” their eyes glaze over. When they hear about a CIC in Bishop Auckland that helps people with disabilities find work, they understand. The CIC model isn’t an abstraction. It’s Hiyed CIC. It’s thousands of organisations doing thousands of different things in thousands of different communities.

I’ve said before that the CIC movement has won the argument. The numbers prove it. But awards like this are the proof that matters most. They’re evidence that the model works for the people it was designed to serve.

Congratulations to Hiyed CIC. You’ve done more for the CIC movement with your work in Bishop Auckland than I’ve done with twenty years of advocacy. Keep going.