Mutual societies registration function: 2023-24

We maintain the Mutuals Public Register[3] and the Mutuals Society Portal[4]. 

The Portal is a system for you to submit applications and returns to us.

More people are using the Portal. The number of users increased by 18% in the year to the end of March 2024. Some 67% of societies now use it.

Societies told us suppliers often ask for confirmation of their registration status. In June 2023, we added a way for societies to get this automatically via the Portal[5].

We also extended the range of forms available through the Portal and improved its usability. This includes broadening the range of forms available for co-operative and community benefit societies registered in Northern Ireland.

Submitting annual returns 

All societies can now submit annual returns and accounts through the Mutuals Society Portal[6].

As a result of these changes, we closed the annual returns email address on 31 March 2024. Returns for the Mutuals Public Register should now be submitted through the Portal.

We told societies about these changes by post.

Stakeholders and events

We met with the sponsoring bodies[4] supporting societies, including through 2 roundtable events.

We attended the:

• International Co-operative Alliance European Research Conference (June 2023)
• Co-operatives UK Practitioners Forum (November 2023)
• Swoboda Research Centre Credit Union Conference (November 2023)
• UK Society for Co-operative Studies conference, focusing on the role of secondary co-operatives (March 2024)

This sits alongside regular engagement with:

• solicitors working with societies
• other registrars and regulators including Companies House and the Community Interest Company Regulator

We sent a number of emails covering recent changes and other information.

Sign up for our updates[5]. 

Legislation

Throughout the year we have engaged with the Law Commission on its reviews of the:

• Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014[6]
• Friendly Societies Act 1992[7]

We also attended a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Mutuals[8] on this topic on 28 February 2024.  

The Co-operatives, Mutuals and Friendly Societies Act 2023[9] was made law on 29 June 2023. This Act creates a framework for an ‘asset lock’, to prevent the distribution of surplus capital. Secondary legislation needs to be made before societies can use its provisions.

We have also engaged with the Government and the sector on proposed amendments to the Building Societies Act 1986, including the Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment) Bill[10].

Changes for credit unions 

This year saw changes to credit union legislation[11] in Great Britain.  

Changes were made through the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023. We discussed these changes with credit unions and their trade bodies. 

Changes include the ability for these credit unions to add a new optional object to expand the range of products and services they offer.  

Since these changes came into force on 29 August 2023, we have registered rule amendments for 6 credit unions adding this optional object.  

Reported concerns

Last year[12], we highlighted a new process for people to report a concern about a mutual society[13].

This year we received 84 reports, covering 67 societies. Either as a response to concerns raised with us, or from issues identified by us, we contacted 74 societies individually on points of legislative compliance, distinct from the proactive engagement below.

What we’re doing: proactive engagement

We have looked at how societies refer to their registration status[14] with us.

We have reviewed more than 3,200 society websites. Checks have included whether a society:

• is displaying its registered name
• refers to itself as being ‘regulated’ or ‘authorised’ by us, rather than ‘registered’ (where it is not also authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000)

We wrote to 29 societies about statements on their websites relating to registration status.

We asked a further 65 societies to check and make sure their full registered name[18] appears on their website.

Earlier in the year, following a review, we also contacted 4 societies based on information appearing in documents promoting unregulated ‘community shares[15]’.

As part of our proactive engagement, we also wrote to the 15 first-class county professional cricket clubs registered as co-operatives under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014.

We saw 4 were using rules that were not registered by us (so not legally effective). These societies have now taken action to address this.

We shared the findings[16] of this work with the clubs and the England and Wales Cricket Board.

From this, we noted how important the role of the society secretary is. We have published information for society secretaries[17] on our website.

*This refers to societies registered before the commencement of the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 on 1 August 2014, referred to in legislation as a ’pre-commencement society’.

**This refers to societies registered before the commencement of section 8 of the Credit Unions and Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 on 6 April 2018, referred to in legislation as a 'pre-2016 Act society'.

The glossary on the Mutuals Public Register[21] describes each category. 

Throughout the year, we registered 273 new societies and deregistered 634 societies.   

New registrations  

Of the new registrations, 28 followed a company converting to a society.   

Deregistrations

Registration and deregistration over previous years

We made decisions on 3,043 applications during 2023/4. This represents a 1% increase in applications on the previous year. 

We set a voluntary service standard to make a decision on at least 90% of complete applications within 15 working days.