Incredible Edible groups are amazing, and when other people realise this, sometimes a group can get invited to do many things in their local area.
This might lead to a group needing to employ staff, or enter into a contract. As an unincorporated group, the individuals on the management committee are responsible for any liabilities resulting from the group’s activities and legally cannot enter into a contract or own property in the group’s own right. With any additional responsibilities, like staffing and contracts, a group needs to become an incorporated entity, meaning the group has its own legal identity and individual liability is limited.
We can’t provide advice to you, but there are a range of organisations you may wish to consult, including:
Your local voluntary sector support organisation will be able to provide advice and chat through the options tailored to your group’s situation: England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
As an incorporated entity, there are a range of regulatory and administrative responsibilities as well as costs which come with the increased range of activities the group can undertake. These can be exciting and scary and need careful consideration.
Through our experience, the key questions to ask when deciding whether to take the leap to become an incorporated are:
- What do we want to do now, next year, in 5 years (and maybe even 10 years)? Your group’s legal status will need to support this development, or be able to develop to support it.
- Who do we know who has been through a similar developmental process? Go for a cuppa with them and learn from their experience.
- Who locally can provide advice to help our decision making? Your local council or housing association may have a community development team, and the local voluntary sector support organisation can provide advice (see the country based links above).
- What skills and knowledge do we need in the team to support the new governance requirements and processes? If you don’t have the skills and knowledge, identify local training opportunities or consider how to attract people with the skills and knowledge to be part of the team. Incredible Edible Wakefield, a social enterprise, use a skills audit tool for each of their Directors and then summarised the skills across the team to identify where there are gaps – you can download these examples and edit to fit your group’s needs.
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- Is this the right time to make this change to our group? Consider what wider support you will need to make the change, and whether that support is around you now – if not, what can you do now to increase that support so maybe in six or 12 months your group is in a better position to make the changes?
Take some time to consider what is important to you and your group and find out about your options from experts who’ve got experience and can provide advice. Your Incredible experience so far will put you in a great position to decide what to do next. It might be that you decide to stay as you are, which is great too – you’ll still get to do Incredible things to create kind, confident and connected communities.
