Full proposal

This page brings the funding case together in one document for funder packs and proposals. Each section links to the page with the full detail.

1. Executive summary

The CIC is a Community Interest Company limited by guarantee, founded by three working directors: two senior software engineers and a senior client manager with security and compliance experience. We build software for public bodies and community organisations. Each project is scoped to be delivered within six months, the client owns the software, and we support it for as long as the client needs us.

We are seeking £250,000 in one-off seed funding to set up the organisation and to hold a reserve that pays for client support during periods when new work is slow. We are not planning a further funding round after that. We expect project income to cover the CIC’s costs from late 2028. The seed reserve stays on the balance sheet.

Ahead of the main seed, we are seeking an initial seed of £15–50k to fund early work from January to April 2027. Our target is to have the main £250k seed in place from September 2027; it is not yet secured.

2. The problem

UK public-sector bodies currently spend between £14 and £20 billion per year on digital systems. A large share of that goes to a small number of suppliers, on terms the suppliers set: proprietary platforms, data formats that are difficult to export, multi-year contracts with built-in price increases, and dependencies that are expensive for the buyer to remove.

As a result, many public bodies have paid large sums for software they cannot maintain, modify or move to another supplier without paying again. Staff often use tools that do not fit how they work. Public bodies are increasingly dependent on a few suppliers, some of them owned outside the UK, and a large part of their budgets goes on recurring licence fees, and little of that spending builds knowledge or skills inside the organisation.

We think that for a significant share of these systems it is now practical for the organisation that uses the software to own it and to decide how it changes.

3. What the CIC does

Led by engineers. Every project is led by a senior software engineer who decides what is built, assesses the security and compliance trade-offs, and checks that the system will work for the people who use it. We use agentic development tools (software that writes and tests code under an engineer’s direction) to reduce the time and cost of the work. The engineers review what the tools produce and are responsible for the result.

Owned by the client. We arrange hosting for what we build, so the client does not have to set it up. Some systems run on our own servers, some with a hosting partner, and some on the client’s own servers. The client owns the software and can move it to another host. We do not charge licence fees, and nothing we deliver depends on an account or platform that only we control. The client receives the software itself, a full record of every change made to it, instructions for setting it up, and documentation for the staff who will look after it. The client decides whether the software is released under an open licence, kept for internal use, or held privately under the client’s control.

Support. We support every system we build for as long as the client needs us. During the project we document the system and train the client’s staff, so that over time they can handle more of the day-to-day support themselves, which reduces the client’s costs. The client decides how quickly that happens. Handover is the point at which a named person on the client’s side can run the system day to day; our support continues after it. For larger clients, we can help recruit and set up an internal team to manage the system. The seed reserve pays for this support during periods when we have little new work.

We do not take on work we cannot finish, sell reports or recommendations in place of working software, build anything into our work that ties the client to us, or start work on a problem whose boundary has not been agreed.

When several organisations face the same problem

Some of the work the CIC is set up to do is too expensive for any single small organisation. Many charities, smaller councils and community organisations share the same problem and could not each afford the development needed to solve it. We help groups of these organisations fund shared work together, for example several charities that need the same case-management system, a group of smaller councils that need the same compliance tool, or housing associations that need to meet the same new regulation. Each member of the group receives the same ownership and support terms as a single client. We also agree with the group how the shared system will be changed over time and how costs are divided as new members join.

4. Why now

Two changes over the last three years make this organisation practical now.

The cost of building software has fallen. With agentic development tools, a small team of experienced engineers can now deliver some work that would previously have needed a much larger team. The tools do much of the repetitive coding. The engineer decides what to build and how to make it safe. A small, experienced team can now take on some work that previously needed a large systems integrator, at a price that public bodies can afford.

Concern about supplier ownership has grown. Through a series of acquisitions, a significant share of UK public-sector software is now owned by private-equity firms based in the US, Europe or Canada. The award of the NHS Federated Data Platform contract, the acquisition of EMIS by Optum, and concerns about the United States CLOUD Act (a 2018 law under which US authorities can require US-based providers to hand over data they hold, including data stored outside the US) have made who owns and controls public-sector systems a current political and operational issue. Some public-sector buyers are now looking for alternative suppliers.

5. Team

The CIC has three working directors. Detailed biographies are on the team page.

• Two senior software engineer directors. Both lead delivery and both write code. Architectural decisions and significant code are reviewed by a second experienced engineer before the client sees them, and engineering work can continue if one director is unavailable.
• One senior client manager director with security and compliance experience. Responsible for client relationships, taking on new projects, contracts, delivery oversight, and security and compliance across all projects. This role covers what a public body needs before it can commission work from us: procurement routes, regulatory obligations, security accreditation, and the documentation the public body must have in place.

We also work with associates engaged for individual projects: software developers, hardware engineers, data scientists, user researchers, compliance specialists, clinical safety officers, legal advisers, and specialists in several sectors.

6. Phases and funding request

Detail is on the phases page. In summary:

• Phase One: Seed (one-off, £250,000). Sets up the CIC: three directors, associate fees, premises, insurance, certifications, tools, and working capital. The seed also includes the reserve that pays for client support when new work is slow.
• Phase Two: Self-sustaining CIC. There is no second funding round. From late 2028, the CIC’s costs are paid from fees for its work, and the seed reserve stays on the balance sheet so that support commitments can be kept during quiet periods without further grants or investment.

Funding request: an initial seed of £15–50k for January to April 2027, to begin early work and secure the first one or two client projects, and the main £250k seed, which we aim to have in place from September 2027. Target funders for both are listed on the funders page.

7. How the seed is used

Detail is on the budget page. In summary:

• Year-one operating costs (around half the seed). Three directors, associate fees, premises, insurance (professional indemnity, public liability), certifications (Cyber Essentials Plus from the start), tools and hosting, and professional services (incorporation, legal, accountancy).
• Reserve (around half the seed). Held on the balance sheet to pay for support to existing clients during periods when there is little new work. This means our support commitments do not depend on how much new work we have in a given month. Once the CIC is self-sustaining, the reserve is topped up from operating surplus.

8. Public benefit

We will measure and report public benefit as follows:

• Systems delivered to public bodies and community organisations, in live use, with a named person on the client’s side responsible for each. Each project is reported publicly.
• Savings against supplier alternatives, checked by the client where possible. As a rough guide, we expect a small project to cost £6–50k and to replace arrangements whose recurring cost is several times higher.
• Skills passed to client staff. On each project, a named person on the client’s side is trained to run the system. On longer projects, we help clients recruit and set up internal teams.
• Annual CIC report filed with the CIC Regulator, covering projects, beneficiaries, costs and outcomes.
• Public register of completed projects, searchable, showing the problem and how it was solved.

9. Risks and mitigations

Fewer projects than expected. If the CIC has fewer projects than expected in Phase One, project income will not cover operating costs in year one. Mitigation: the seed covers year-one operating costs in full, so a slow start does not put the organisation at risk. The reserve is separate from operating costs and is kept for support commitments.

Dependence on individuals. A small team is vulnerable if one person leaves. Mitigation: both engineer directors work across each other’s projects. Larger projects always have at least two engineers. Documentation and training are part of every project.

Growing support workload. Support commitments accumulate as the number of projects grows. Mitigation: the reserve is set aside for support; we limit the number of active projects per engineer; and client staff are trained to take on a share of the support themselves.

Continuity if the CIC closes. If the CIC closes, clients still need to be able to maintain their software. Software that only the CIC can maintain would leave the client dependent on us. Mitigation: defined criteria for handover; arrangements for maintaining each system documented on each project; and the asset lock, which means that if the CIC winds down its remaining assets pass to another community-interest body.

Political and regulatory change. Public-sector priorities and budgets change with political decisions. Mitigation: projects are divided into stages so that each stage delivers something usable even if later stages do not go ahead; work is spread across several sectors and buyers.

Dependence on a single funder. If the whole £250k seed came from one funder, the CIC would depend heavily on that funder. Mitigation: we aim to raise the main seed from two to four funders, with several smaller grants for the initial seed beforehand. Detail is on the funders page.

10. Governance and accountability

Legal structure. Community Interest Company limited by guarantee. The statutory asset lock prevents assets or profits being taken out of the company. There are no shareholders and no dividends. Each member’s liability is limited to £1.

Annual reporting. CIC annual report filed with the CIC Regulator, a public list of projects, audited accounts, and a public summary of impact.

Director accountability. The three working directors share responsibility for significant decisions equally. Director pay is disclosed in the annual report.

Conflicts of interest. Directors’ outside interests (including an existing security-hosting business and consultancy work) are recorded in the register of interests and managed under written conflict-of-interest procedures.

Income. The CIC earns income from day rates and hosting only. We do not charge licence fees, per-user fees or fees for access to data. The CIC’s constitution and stated activities do not allow licensing income, so funders are not funding an organisation that could later start charging licence fees for the software it has built.

Continuity of the software. The CIC may not exist indefinitely. Every system is documented so that the client’s own staff, or another supplier, could maintain it if the client chose. Documentation is written for the person who will maintain the system, and the client can move the system to another host. Licence terms (open, internal-use, or private under the client’s control) and any escrow or exit arrangements are agreed on each project so that the software can continue to be used if the CIC closes.

Wind-down. If the CIC winds down, its remaining assets (including the reserve) pass to another asset-locked community-interest body or registered charity, as the asset lock requires. Funders’ money therefore remains in use for public benefit if the CIC closes.

Cross-references: phases · budget · team · funders. The supporting strategic and engineering material is in the planning area.