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Section 55: Dissolution of society

Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965 · 1965 c. 12View on legislation.gov.uk

This provision is repealed
It is retained for historical reference and may not reflect the law currently in force.

REPEALED on 2014-08-01 by Community Benefit Societies Act 2014.

The text below is from the dated revised snapshot immediately preceding this status change. It is historical and is not current law. View the historical source.

A registered society may be dissolved—

on its being wound up in pursuance of an order or resolution made as is directed in the case of companies registered under the Companies Acts, or
in accordance with section 58 of this Act, by an instrument of dissolution—
to which not less than three-fourths of the members of the society have given their consent testified by their signatures to the instrument;
in the case of a dormant society which is not a credit union, which has been approved by a special resolution of the society; or
in the case of a credit union, which has been approved by a special resolution of the society and confirmed by the appropriate authority.

In subsection (1)(b) above “special resolution” has the same meaning as in section 50 of this Act.

In subsection (1)(b)(ii) above a society is “dormant” if its accounts for the current year of account and the two years of account immediately preceding the current year of account show no accounting transactions other than—

fees paid to the FCA ;
fees paid to the PRA ;
payment of dividends; or
payment of interest;

and it has notified the FCA that it is dormant.

For the purposes of subsection (1)(b)(iii) above the appropriate authority shall be deemed to have confirmed a special resolution if, within twenty one days of the credit union sending a copy of that special resolution to the appropriate authority, the appropriate authority has not notified the credit union in writing to the contrary.

A relevant society may also be dissolved under paragraph 84 of Schedule B1 to the 1986 Act as applied in relation to a relevant society by an order made under section 255 of the Enterprise Act 2002.

The provisions relating to the winding up of companies registered under the Companies Acts have effect in relation to a registered society as if the society were such a company, subject to the following modifications—

any reference to the registrar of companies shall be read as a reference to the FCA ;
any reference to a company registered in Scotland shall be read as a reference to a society registered under this Act whose registered office is situated in Scotland;
if the society is wound up in Scotland, the court having jurisdiction is the sheriff court within whose jurisdiction the society’s registered office is situated.

A copy of any resolution passed for the voluntary winding up of a registered society must be sent by the society to the FCA and, if the registered society is a PRA -authorised person, the PRA within 15 days after it is passed. For the purposes of section 62 of this Act (offences by officers etc ) as it applies in relation to a failure to comply with this subsection, a liquidator of the society shall be treated as an officer of it.

A copy of any resolution passed for the voluntary winding up of a registered society must be annexed to every copy of the registered rules of the society issued after the passing of the resolution.

This section has effect subject to section 59 of this Act (restriction on dissolution or cancellation of registration).

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.