A report was commissioned by CDS to increase our knowledge of how co-operative sectors developed in Scotland and three comparator countries. It enhances our understanding of the opportunities and challenges for developing co-operatives in Scotland and the findings will inform our future strategy development. New measures are to be introduced in April that are intended to make it easier for community interest companies, a form of social enterprise, to attract investors. Following a consultation last year, the CIC Regulator is lifting the cap on share dividend payments that CICs can make to investors to 20 per cent. It is also raising the cap on loan interest to ten per cent of the loan's value. The dividend cap was previously five percentage points above the Bank of England base rate and the interest cap was four percentage points above this rate. But the consultation found that CICs thought the caps were too low, too complicated and potential investors would be deterred by the difficulty of making a return. John Mulkerrin, co-founder of the CIC Association, said: "These are reasonably significant changes that will attract a whole new range of potential funding." He said detaching the caps from the Bank of England's base rates and bringing them closer to market rates would appeal to investors without being "aggressively commercial".
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