Government publishes Consultation decisions on Co-ops

Summary of Government decisions

3.1 Following consideration of the responses received to this consultation, the Government has made the following decisions in relation to the six measures.
• Measure 1 – Withdrawable share capital: the Government will proceed with increasing the limit for withdrawable share capital to £100,000;
• Measure 2 – Introduce insolvency rescue procedures for IPSs: the Government will proceed with this measure;
• Measure 3 – Apply provision for bank insolvency rescue to Credit Unions (Part 2 of the Banking Act 2009): the Government will not proceed with this measure;
• Measure 4 – Reproduce Companies Act provisions for IPSs with regard to investigative powers of the registrar (FCA): the Government will proceed with this measure;
• Measure 5 – Reproduce Companies Act provisions onto IPSs with regard to inspection of the register of members to prevent vexatious use of the register by disaffected members: the Government will not proceed with this measure; and
• Measure 6 – Allowing IPSs to submit electronic copies of registration documents to the FCA: the Government will proceed with this measure.
Next steps
3.2 The Government will now proceed with taking the necessary legislative steps to pursue this package of measures, as set out above, in tandem with the passage of the Co-operatives Consolidation Bill. The Government anticipates that both the Bill and the package of measures will be on the statute book by summer 2014.

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