The community interest test is the test a company must pass to be a community interest company. It is met if a reasonable person might consider that the company's activities are carried on for the benefit of the community.
How it is applied
When a CIC is formed, or an existing company converts to one, it sends the CIC Regulator a community interest statement (form CIC36 for a new company, CIC37 for a conversion). The statement says who the company will benefit and how. The Regulator uses it to decide whether the community interest test is met.
What counts as the community
The community can be the public as a whole or a definable section of it, such as the residents of an area or people with a particular need. A group that is too narrow, such as the members of one family or the employees of one employer, does not qualify. Political campaigning and supporting a political party are excluded.
It is not a one-off
A CIC must go on meeting the test for as long as it exists. The yearly CIC34 report is how it shows that it does.
Read more: Community Interest Companies: the CT600 and the CIC34 report.