Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1965 c. 12 |
| Year | 1965 |
Industrial and ProvidentSocieties Act 1965
1965 CHAPTER 12
An Act to consolidate certain enactments relating to industrial and provident societies, being those enactments as they apply in Great Britain and the Channel Islands with corrections and improvements made under the Consolidation of Enactments (Procedure) Act 1949.
[2nd June 1965]
B e it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Registered societies
1 Societies which may be registered.
(1) Subject to sections 2(1) and 7(1) of this Act, a society for carrying on any industry, business or trade (including dealings of any description with land), whether wholesale or retail, may be registered under this Act if—
( a ) it is shown to the satisfaction of the appropriate registrar that one of the conditions specified in subsection (2) of this section is fulfilled; and
( b ) the society's rules contain provision in respect of the matters mentioned in Schedule 1 to this Act; and
( c ) the place which under those rules is to be the society's registered office is situated in Great Britain or the Channel Islands.
(2) The conditions referred to in subsection (1)( a ) of this section are—
( a ) that the society is a bona fide co-operative society; or
( b ) that, in view of the fact that the business of the society is being, or is intended to be, conducted for the benefit of the community, there are special reasons why the society should be registered under this Act rather than as a company under the Companies Act 1948 .
(3) In this section, the expression ‘co-operative society’ does not include a society which carries on, or intends to carry on, business with the object of making profits mainly for the payment of interest, dividends or bonuses on money invested or deposited with, or lent to, the society or any other person.
2 Registration of society.
(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section—
( a ) no society shall be registered under this Act if the number of the members thereof is less than seven; and
( b ) an application for the registration of a society under this Act shall be signed by seven members and the secretary of the society and shall be sent with two printed copies of the society's rules to the appropriate registrar.
(2) A society whose members consist solely of two or more registered societies may be registered under this Act if the application for registration is signed by two members of the committee and the secretary of each (or, if more than three, of each of any three) of the constituent societies and is accompanied by two printed copies of the registered rules of each of the constituent societies as well as of the rules of the society sought to be registered.
(3) On being satisfied that a society has complied with the provisions of this Act as to registration thereunder, the appropriate registrar shall issue to the society an acknowledgment of registration in the prescribed form which shall be conclusive evidence that the society is duly registered under this Act unless it is proved that the registration of the society has been cancelled or is for the time being suspended.
3 Registration to effect incorporation of society with limited liability.
A registered society shall by virtue of its registration he a body corporate by its registered name, by which it may sue and be sued, with perpetual succession and a common seal and with limited liability; and that registration shall vest in the society all property for the time being vested in any person in trust for the society, and all legal proceedings pending by or against the trustees of the society may be brought or continued by or against the society in its registered name.
4 Existing societies deemed to be registered.
Any society which at the date immediately before the commencement of this Act was registered or deemed to be registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1893(hereafter in this Act referred to as ‘the Act of 1893’), being a society whose registered office was at that date in Great Britain or the Channel Islands, shall be deemed to be registered under this Act; and—
Name and maximum shareholding
5 Name of society.
(1) No society shall be registered under this Act under a name which in the opinion of the appropriate registrar is undesirable.
(2) Subject to subsection (5) of this section, the word ‘limited’ shall be the last word in the name of every society registered under this Act.
(3) A registered society may change its name in the following manner and in that manner only, that is to say—
( a ) by a resolution for the purpose passed at a general meeting of the society after the giving of such notice as is required by the rules of the society of such a resolution or, if the rules do not make special provision as to notice of such a resolution, after the giving of such notice as is required by the rules of a resolution to amend the rules; and
( b ) with the approval in writing—
(i) in the case of a society registered, and doing business exclusively, in Scotland, of the assistant registrar for Scotland; or
(ii) in any other case, of the chief registrar.
(4) No change in the name of a registered society shall affect any right or obligation of the society, or of any member thereof, and any pending legal proceedings may be continued by or against the society notwithstanding its new name.
(5) If the appropriate registrar is satisfied that the objects of a society applying for registration under this Act or of a registered society are wholly charitable or benevolent, he may register the society by a name which does not contain the word ‘limited’ or, as the case may be, permit the society to change its name to one which does not contain that word; but if it subsequently appears to that registrar that the society, whether in consequence of a change in its rules or otherwise, is not being conducted wholly for charitable or benevolent objects, he may direct that the word ‘limited’ be added as the last word in the name of the society and shall notify the society accordingly.
(6) Every registered society shall cause its registered name to be painted or affixed, and to be kept painted or affixed, in a conspicuous position and in letters easily legible, on the outside of its registered office and every other office or place in which the business of the society is carried on, and shall have that...
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