We are proud of our status as a social enterprise and a Community Interest Company (CIC).

What is a social enterprise?

Social enterprises trade for social and environmental benefit. Unlike private companies, social enterprises do not distribute profits to shareholders - they are reinvested in the organisation instead.

Social enterprises are about combining the best values of the NHS and the voluntary sector with business acumen and talent, to generate surpluses for re-investment into the community -
re-investment that will help people to live life well.

To demonstrate our social enterprise status, we are a member of Social Enterprise UK, and in 2015 we were nominated for two of their annual awards - Social Enterprise of the Year and Health and Social Care Social Enterprise. We were also nominated for the same awards in 2016.

What is a Community Interest Company?

Community Interest Companies (CICs) are limited companies, with special additional features, created to enable people to conduct a business or other activity for community benefit, not for private advantage. This is achieved by a ‘community interest test’ and ‘asset lock’, which ensure the CIC is established for community purposes and its assets and profits are dedicated to these purposes.

The CIC regulator oversees the ‘community interest test’ to ensure that CICs are recognised and trusted by society for serving our communities with integrity and excellence. To meet this requirement, Bristol Community Health makes an annual return to the CIC regulator on how we have benefited the community we serve, how we have consulted with our stakeholders and how have we responded to their feedback.