British cooperative movement
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The United Kingdom is home to a widespread and diverse co-operative movement, with over 7000 registered
co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
s owned by 17 million individual members and which contribute £34bn a year to the British economy. Modern co-operation started with the Rochdale Pioneers' shop in the northern English town of Rochdale in 1844, though the history of co-operation in Britain can be traced back to before 1800. The British co-operative movement is most commonly associated with
The Co-operative brand The Co-operative, also known as Co-op, is a brand used by a variety of co-operatives based in the United Kingdom. It is not a single business, but a number of different consumers' co-operatives spanning various sectors. The Co-operative Group ...
(best known for its
supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...
and Funeralcare brands) which has been adopted by several large consumers' co-operative societies; however, there are many thousands of registered co-operative businesses operating in the UK. Alongside these consumers' co-operatives, there exist many prominent
agricultural co-operatives An agricultural cooperative, also known as a farmers' co-op, is a cooperative in which farmers pool their resources in certain areas of activity. A broad typology of agricultural cooperatives distinguishes between agricultural service cooperati ...
(621), co-operative housing providers (619), health and social care cooperatives (111), cooperative schools (834), retail co-operatives, co-operatively run community energy projects, football supporters' trusts,
credit unions A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including deposit accounts, provision ...
, and worker-owned businesses.
Co-operatives UK Co-operatives UK is a British co-operative federation described as "the central membership organisation for co-operative enterprise throughout the UK". It was founded in 1870 as the Co-operative Central Board, changing its name to the Co-opera ...
is the central membership organisation for co-operative enterprise throughout the UK. This is a co-operative of co-operatives: a co-operative federation. Most kinds of co-operatives are eligible to join Co-operatives UK.


Origins of the British co-operative movement

Though the history of the co-operative movement in the UK is often traced back to the Rochdale Pioneers of 1844, the history of co-operation can be traced back much further. The origins of modern co-operatives owe their beginnings not simply to the extreme poverty faced by many in the 18th and 19th centuries, but also to the rapid social changes of urbanisation, the rising food prices which resulted from the marketisation of the economy and from the lack of political representation for the working class during this period. These factors led to a number of social changes including an increased focus on mutual businesses (notably co-operatives) in public discourse during this time and also to events such as the Swing Riots of 1830.Wilson, J. F., Webster, A. and Vorberg-Rugh, R. (2013) "Building Co-operation: A business history of The Co-operative Group", Oxford University Press, Oxford Early co-ops often focused on the provision of essential services (notably food) to members where the market was either unable to provide these services sufficiently or was considered unjust. Often the more successful co-ops were established around the trades which were experiencing the largest impact from the rapid industrialisation such as mining and weaving. This was likely due to the clearer direct benefits of membership and the solidarity of workers with a similar plight. The provision of food was a highly successful area for co-ops with many becoming involved in milling and baking bread. The Hull Anti-Mill Co-op, established in 1795 and which traded for a century, provides an example of such a successful society.


Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers

Though many co-operative societies had been established by the 1840s many had not been successful with societies often suffering through financial maladministration or fraud owing to the very limited legislation surrounding such enterprises. During the boom times, when work in the factories was more fruitful, co-operative societies also had difficulty encouraging people to retain their membership owing to perception of its limited financial benefits. It became understood that some kind of economic benefit for membership was required alongside the educational and social benefits. It was the implementation of the
patronage dividend A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-i ...
and the formalisation of the
Rochdale Principles The Rochdale Principles are a set of ideals for the operation of cooperatives. They were first set out in 1844 by the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers in Rochdale, England and have formed the basis for the principles on which co-operativ ...
which led to the success of the
Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, founded in 1844, was an early consumers' co-operative, and one of the first to pay a patronage dividend, forming the basis for the modern co-operative movement. Although other co-operatives preceded it, ...
which was established in December 1844, a business which continues to this day as a part of The Co-operative Group. The Rochdale Pioneers society became highly successful with 1,400 members in 1855 and the co-op expanded further, after opening additional stores, to have 5,560 members by 1870. This success encouraged a boom in co-operatives in the following decades across the UK, but predominately across the industrial heartlands of northern England. By 1860 there were more than 200 co-ops in the north west of England which were running in a similar manner to the Rochdale society. Private shopkeepers became resentful of the competition which they were experiencing from these new co-operative stores, often as they saw the dividend as an unfair competitive advantage, and so some powerful shopkeepers lobbied for wholesalers to stop supplying these new co-operative societies. Though few such boycotts actually occurred, this threat worried many people in the co-operative movement and so they endeavoured to create a co-operative wholesaler to supply at least some key products to co-operative stores. The Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1862 enabled co-operative societies to invest in other co-operative societies, in effect permitting co-operative federations. Following this the North of England Co-operative Wholesale Industrial and Provident Society Limited, later renamed the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) was launched in Manchester by 300 individual co-operatives in Yorkshire and Lancashire during 1863. The Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society was founded in 1868.


Consumers' co-operatives (retail and food)

The largest and most recognised part of the UK movement are the many consumers' co-operatives. They are
co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
businesses run for the benefit of their customer members. Of these co-operatives, the largest sector is food retailing, though they have a significant presence in other sectors such as travel agencies and funeral directors. The late 20th and early 21st centuries have seen a gradual exit by these businesses from the non-food retailing market. Many co-operatives (by convention known as co-operative societies) started out in a single village, town or city usually with just a single store. Here, members would be customers of the society's trading location and the society would reward these members with a proportion of any profits based on that member's spending with the society, or a dividend. This is a fundamental difference between a co-operative and a
joint stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their shares (certificates of ownership). Shareholders are ...
. Most societies were small, and by 1900, there were 1,439 co-operatives covering virtually every area of the UK. Gradually, many societies expanded by opening further stores or by merging with a neighbouring society. Today, there is one dominant, national society, The Co-operative Group, and a number of large regional co-operative societies such as
Central England Co-operative Central England Co-operative, trading as Central Co-op, is a regional consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom, based in Lichfield and which trades from over 400 sites across the English Midlands and East Anglia. The business is owned and de ...
, the Midcounties Co-operative and Scotmid. Many of these large co-operative societies have businesses in a number of sectors, are led by their values principles and owned by their members. Membership is open to everyone and alongside being democratically involved in the decision making of the societies, every year members receive a share of the profits based on the amount made in profits that year and the how much they had spent with any of its businesses. In the case of The Co-operative Group, the society has over four million members and 3,600 trading outlets for its family of business which comprises groceries, insurance, funerals, legal services and health. In contrast to these large regional or national societies, some have remained with a single store such as Shepley Co-op, Grosmont Co-op, Coniston Co-op and Allendale Co-op. The decline, through mergers, of single shop co-operatives, was reversed by two trends. Firstly, around 170 community owned shops were established since 1979, many of which are co-operatives. Secondly, the United States
food co-operative A food cooperative or food co-op is a food distribution outlet organized as a cooperative, rather than a private or public company. Food cooperatives are usually consumer cooperatives, where the decisions regarding the production and distribution o ...
movement was replicated in the UK: some of the independent food co-operatives established in the late 20th and early 21st centuries operate shops.


History of the British consumer co-operative movement

By 1860 there were more than 200 co-ops in the north west of England which were running in a similar manner to the Rochdale society. Private shopkeepers became resentful of the competition which they were experiencing from these new co-operative stores, often as they saw the dividend as an unfair competitive advantage, and so some powerful shopkeepers lobbied for wholesalers to stop supplying these new co-operative societies. Though few such boycotts actually occurred, this threat worried many people in the co-operative movement and so they endeavoured to create a co-operative wholesaler to supply at least some key products to co-operative stores. The North of England Co-operative Wholesale Industrial and Provident Society Limited, later renamed the Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) was launched in Manchester by 300 individual co-operatives in Yorkshire and Lancashire during 1863. The Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society was founded in 1868. The CWS grew rapidly and supplied produce to co-operative stores across England, competing fiercely for trade from co-operative societies with other non-co-operative wholesalers which led to the CWS becoming highly innovative. By 1890 the CWS had established significant branches in Leeds, Blackburn, Bristol, Nottingham and Huddersfield alongside a number of factories which produced biscuits ( Manchester), Boots (
Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...
), Soap ( Durham) and textiles (
Batley Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Batley lies south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield. Batley is part of the ...
). This rapid expansion continued so that by the outbreak of World War I the CWS had major offices in the United States, Denmark, Australia and a tea plantation in India. Many, fiercely local, societies saw the CWS as a valuable supplier but did not want to exclusively purchase produce from a single source. In order to increase loyalty to the CWS, they started to assist the local retail societies in more ways than simply as a wholesaler. The CWS Bank, the precursor to The Co-operative Bank, financed loans for societies to use for expansion through purchasing new buildings, land or new equipment. After the acquisition of the
Co-operative Insurance Society Co-op Insurance is the trading name of CIS General Insurance, a general insurance company, which is part of the Co-operative Group, based in Manchester, United Kingdom. Co-op Insurance Services, an insurance intermediary incorporated in 2017, is ...
in 1913, the CWS also provided insurance services to members and the CWS also began providing
legal services In its most general sense, the practice of law involves giving legal advice to clients, drafting legal documents for clients, and representing clients in legal negotiations and court proceedings such as lawsuits, and is applied to the professio ...
– all business which remain today. It was hoped that these financial ties, as well as the CWS corporate dividend, would increase loyalty to the CWS. During World War II rationing led to an effective pause in any major changes to the co-operative movement in the UK with the CWS becoming highly involved in sourcing overseas goods for UK consumers and manufacturing wartime goods. Following the war there was some attempt to modernise the co-operative stores. After the London Co-operative Society opened its first self-service shop in 1942 the co-operative movement led the way on the development of self-service stores to the point where, by the 1950s, 90% of self-service shops in the UK were run by co-operatives. Despite this the market share and the number of members of the society began to dwindle and - importantly - so did the member share capital which societies used to invest. The CWS responded with an operational facelift in 1968 which introduced the first national co-operative branding, the 'Co-op' cloverleaf. Though this led to some improvements the movement (including the CWS) remained largely unreformed with its grocery market share continuing its downward trend. It was also suggested around this time that societies merge to form regional societies to improve their competitiveness through the economies of scale. Many local co-op societies strongly resisted such mergers but, as their financial situation declined, many were forced to merge to create regional societies or with either the CRS or the SCWS to avoid failing. Consolidation within the movement was considerable and in 1973 serious financial mismanagement of the SCWS Bank led to the SCWS and the CWS merging to form a single UK-wide wholesale society. The co-operative movement's market share and profitability continued to decline during the 1970s and 80s in part due to a number of reasons. Firstly the process of
de-industrialisation Deindustrialization is a process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity or activity in a country or region, especially of heavy industry or manufacturing industry. There are different interpre ...
which characterised the period led to serious economic difficulties in many of the movements heartlands (notably the northern industrial towns) which disproportionally impacted on the societies through a decrease in consumer spending despite the British economy seeing a rise in consumer disposable income overall. This was largely due to the strong increase in inequality in the UK at this time and the co-operative movement was not well placed to tap into this increase in middle class spending due to the geographic spread of its stores and the co-op's historic association as the shop for the 'working poor'. Secondly redevelopment projects in many cities between the 1950s and 1970s often moved people from rows of terraced housing (which featured co-op stores dotted throughout) to newer purpose-built estates, with around 18,000 co-op stores closing as they become redundant in this way. Thirdly the time was a period of notable inflation and a strong pound which led to a wave of cheap imported goods – this devastated much of the UKs manufacturing businesses (including the CWS). By the 1980s it became clear that the trend in the retail sector was towards large (often out of town) supermarkets and hypermarkets with hundreds of them appearing across the UK. The co-operative movement did build some superstores, having 74 by 1986, but often their development and competitiveness was hindered by the lack of a national distribution network and price competitiveness. During the 1980s financial troubles and an increasing number of co-operative societies led to the CWS began rescuing many of these (after the CRS began to struggle financially from the number of failing co-ops that it had merged with), the CWS having returned to direct retailing after its merger with the SCWS the decade before. It was these mergers with consumers' co-operatives which led to the co-op having both corporate (co-op societies) and individual members and hence making it both a primary and
secondary co-operative A co-operative federation or secondary co-operative is a cooperative, co-operative in which all members are, in turn, co-operatives. Historically, co-operative federations have predominantly come in the form of Co-operative wholesale society, co-ope ...
. The CWS's expansion into direct retailing (especially after the mergers of the 2000s) led to the CWS becoming such a highly visible business in the UK. The legacy of this was that many people consider the British co-operative movement to be one business, The Co-operative Group. By the start of the 1990s the co-operative movement's share of the UK grocery market had declined to the point where the entire business model was under question. This was at a time where many building societies were demutualising as many of the public preferred the short-term financial gain of the windfall payment over the perceived lack of benefits from the mutual model. For a time it seemed as though the mutual or co-op model was almost dead – though around the
2008 financial crisis 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...
almost all of the demutualised building societies either failed or were forced to merge with a larger bank for support reigniting much debate on the virtues of the mutual and co-op models. The co-op's reputation was not helped in this respect by the factions within the movement, notably the strong rivalry between the CRS and the CWS, acting in a manner which exacerbated the belief held by many members of the public that, rather than working for the interests of all members, co-ops were largely acting in the self-interests of a dominant 'clique' of members within each society. Together these crises meant that the 1990s would become a crucial decade if 'The Co-op' was to survive. In order to raise capital to invest in its food stores (and also the increasingly successful The Co-operative Bank) the CWS sold many of its factories to
Andrew Regan Andrew Regan (born 14 December 1965, in Manchester, England) is a British-born polar explorer and entrepreneur. He is the chief executive officer of Corvus Capital, an investment company. Career Hobson Early in his career, Regan ran a household ...
in 1994 for £111 million before in 1997 he posed a highly ambitious £1.2bn hostile takeover attempt of the CWS. This shocked many in the movement and consolidated support for the CWS as the 'linchpin' of the movement in a way that many had previous opposed. The CWS was able to defend itself from this takeover bid and after investigations by a private detective and a subsequent criminal court case, Regan's bid was rejected and two senior CWS executives were dismissed and imprisoned for fraud. An arrest warrant was issued for Andrew Regan in 1999 however he had already emigrated to Monaco. The shock that Mr Regan's bid sent through the co-operative movement has been attributed with sowing the seeds for the merger of the CRS and the CWS in 1999. The merger took two years to complete and the launch of the newly combined business, named The Co-operative Group, was timed with the release of the 2001 Co-operative Commission report, chaired by John Monks, which proposed a strategy of modernisation which focused on improving store design and building a consistent
branding Branding may refer to: Physical markings * Making a mark, typically by charring: ** Wood branding, permanently marking, by way of heat, typically of wood (also applied to plastic, cork, leather, etc.) ** Livestock branding, the marking of animals ...
whilst also driving for efficiency savings to make the food business more competitive - the similarity in conclusions between the 1919, 1958 and 2001 reports highlights the distinct lack of progress within the movement during this time. The 2001 report also highlighted the need to market what it called 'The Co-operative Advantage' which suggested that commercial success would provide the funding for the social goals of the movement which (when the public saw a tangible benefit to their own lives) would provide a competitive advantage to the co-op which would further its commercial success - a virtuous cycle. Unlike Gaitskell Commission's 1958 report the recommendations of the report, notably the major update to "The Co-operative brand" and the re-launch of the membership dividend scheme, were largely adopted by the co-operative movement including The Co-operative Group. These changes to the business are largely credited with the successes in profitability and the achievement in social goals which improved in the years after the Co-operative Commission report. This is not to say that modernisation of the CWS had not been under way for some time. Since 1993 the CRTG had been working to switch the role of the CWS from 'selling to' to 'buying for' co-operative societies as a way of maximising the economies of scale to become more competitive to the major supermarkets. Since the 1960s the co-op had been following retail trends after they had occurred, always having to catch up, in a way that it led the changes before World War II. Many leaders in the movement began to appreciate that this 'me too' approach to retailing was not working, for example expanding into hypermarkets after Tesco and Sainsbury's had already developed a dominant position but without the resources to compete on price. As an attempt to differentiate itself from its larger competitors The Co-operative Bank had introduced an ethical policy in 1992 and this, along with its technical innovation, was well received with customers. The CWS decided that, though it had always aimed to trade responsibly (for example though the working conditions in its factories and plantations as well as its boycott of South African produce during the years of Apartheid, by cementing its 'ethical' credentials in a series of strong and clear policy commitments it could work to convince the public of the 'co-operative difference'. This move posed a bold step for the CWS leadership as this was a wholly new approach for such a large business. The CWS worked with
The Fairtrade Foundation The Fairtrade Foundation is a charity based in the United Kingdom that aims to empower disadvantaged producers in developing countries by tackling injustice in conventional trade, in particular by promoting and licensing the Fairtrade Mark, a gu ...
to help introduce the Fairtrade Mark in the UK, it was an early adopter of the RSPCA's 'Freedom Foods' animal welfare certification, it introduced the first supermarket line of 'environmentally friendly' household products and the first range of toiletries certified by Cruelty Free International as not tested on animals. This new adoption of an ethical strategy was only part of the CWS's changes. After the 1997 strategic review the business suggested that it close the majority of its hypermarkets and
department stores A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appea ...
and instead focus on its core chain of
convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...
s, another significant proposal.


List of retail societies


Utility co-operatives

Utility co-operatives provide their members with services such as telecommunications, energy and water.
The Phone Co-op The Phone Co-op was an independant consumer co-operative in the United Kingdom until 2018, when facing serious financial difficulties, it transfered itself into a sister society, where it remains today. It provides landline, mobile telephone an ...
was established in 1998 and provides broadband, fixed line and mobile telecoms services to consumers and organisations. Today the business is part of the Midcounties Co-operative and provides landline,
mobile telephone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
and Internet services, including broadband. The Co-operative Energy is an energy supplier which is operated on behalf of Midcounties Co-operative by
Octopus Energy Octopus Energy Group is a British renewable energy group specialising in sustainable energy. It was founded in 2015 with the backing of British fund management company Octopus Group, a British asset management company. Headquartered in London ...
, making it the only co-operative supplier in the UK energy market. The business sources more than half its energy from renewable sources (the UK average is approximately 15%) with some electricity sourced from several community owned renewable energy schemes, including the Great Dunkilns Farm wind turbine at
St Briavels St Briavels (pronounced ''Brevels'', once known as 'Ledenia Parva' (Little Lydney)), is a medium-sized village and civil parish in the Royal Forest of Dean in west Gloucestershire, England; close to the England-Wales border, and south of Colefo ...
in Gloucestershire and Westmill Wind Farm Co-operative.


Financial co-operatives


Credit unions

Credit unions are a loan and savings co-operative. Members normally have a 'common bond' to make them eligible for membership. Commons bonds are usually that all members live in a certain locality, work for a common employer or belong to the same trade union, church or association. Because of the need for a common bond, most credit unions remain rather small. Credit unions are run in a not-for-profit way. This means they use their money to run their services and reward their members – not to pay outside shareholders. They must set money aside each year to ensure they don't go bust. They use any leftover money to provide better services to members or share evenly among savings accounts (a dividend) In Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), credit unions are regulated by the
Financial Services Authority The Financial Services Authority (FSA) was a quasi-judicial body accountable for the financial regulation, regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom between 2001 and 2013. It was founded as the Securities and Investmen ...
who set certain standard and approve the people who hold important positions within a credit union. All credit unions must have the words 'credit union' in the title, or in Wales they can have 'undeb credyd'. The main trade association for credit unions in Great Britain is the Association of British Credit Unions Ltd (ABCUL). ABCUL is based in
Holyoake House Holyoake House is a building in the NOMA district of Manchester, England, which was completed in 1911. Designed by F.E.L. Harris, it was built for the Co-operative Union in memory of George Holyoake. It is located alongside other listed building ...
, a Grade One listed building in Manchester owned by Co-operativesUK. In Northern Ireland, credit unions are currently regulated by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment and registered by its registry function – the Registry of Credit Unions and Industrial and Provident Societies. However, there are proposals for regulatory reform, set out by HM Treasury and the DETI, which detail transferring registration and regulatory responsibility for credit unions in Northern Ireland to the
Financial Services Authority The Financial Services Authority (FSA) was a quasi-judicial body accountable for the financial regulation, regulation of the financial services industry in the United Kingdom between 2001 and 2013. It was founded as the Securities and Investmen ...
. The main trade association for credit unions throughout the island of Ireland is the
Irish League of Credit Unions The Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) (Irish: Conradh na hÉireann de Chomhair Chreidmheasa) is a trade association for credit unions in Ireland. It operates in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. It is an unincorporated body g ...
.


Housing

Housing co-operatives are owned and democratically controlled by its member-tenants. The Confederation of Co-operative Housing is the UK's national body for housing co-ops.


Worker

A worker co-operative is a co-operative owned and democratically controlled by its employees. There are no outside- or consumer-owners in a worker co-operative. Only the workers own shares of the business. It is estimated that there are approximately 403 worker owned and controlled co-operatives in the United Kingdom. In 2009 Co-operativesUK recorded a combined turnover of £144 million with assets of £32 million as part of the Co-operative Review 2009. The largest employee-owned company in the UK is the John Lewis Partnership. Though John Lewis is a public limited company, its
shares In financial markets, a share is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation, and can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Share capital refers to all of the shares of an ...
are held in trust on behalf of the employees rather than being traded on the London Stock Exchange. Each employee (referred to as "partner" within John Lewis) has a say in how the company is run and each year they are awarded an equal percentage share of the profits based on their salary. In the past ten years, this has amounted to between one and two months' salary for partners. The John Lewis Partnership operates twenty-six department stores and a
web store Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the r ...
under the John Lewis division and 187 (Dec 2007) supermarkets in the Waitrose division. The company's presence is more marked in the south and east of England though it is gradually expanding to other areas of Great Britain. Suma is the largest independent wholefood wholesaler-distributor in the United Kingdom and a workers' co-operative. Suma specialise in vegetarian,
Fairtrade A fair trade certification is a product certification within the market-based movement fair trade. The most widely used fair trade certification is FLO International's, the International Fairtrade Certification Mark, used in Europe, Africa, As ...
,
organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...
, ethical and natural products.
Greencity Wholefoods Greencity Wholefoods is a worker co-operative wholefoods wholesaler in Glasgow, Scotland. The co-operative was founded in 1978 in Hillington, in the outskirts of Glasgow before moving in 1983 to its current location in Dennistoun in the city ...
is a similar worker co-operative based in Glasgow, Scotland. Infinity Foods Workers Co-operative Ltd (co-operative) is a large independent wholefood business in East Sussex. With a retail outlet with artisan Bakery, Cafe and wholesaler-distribution. Infinity Foods specialise in vegetarian,
Fairtrade A fair trade certification is a product certification within the market-based movement fair trade. The most widely used fair trade certification is FLO International's, the International Fairtrade Certification Mark, used in Europe, Africa, As ...
,
organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...
, ethical and natural products. Infinity Foods workers co-operative has over 100 worker members making it one of the biggest independent employers in the Brighton and Hove area. Footprint Workers Co-operative, a printing service has been running in Leeds since 1997. The
Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative is a bicycle retailer with three stores across Scotland, two stores in Northern England, and an online store selling worldwide. The co-operative is the longest established worker co-operative in Scotland, having ...
is the oldest workers co-operative in Scotland, being established in 1977. It has since expanded and now operates eight stores across Scotland and northern England as well as an online sales platform.. Brixton Cycles, inspired by Edinburgh, opened in 1983 and is also still running today.


Agricultural

Agricultural marketing and supply co-operatives are owned by farmers. Mole Valley Farmers is a larger example of a supply co-operative founded by farmers. The late twentieth century saw the demutualisation of several large co-operatives, including the large regional West Midland Farmers, which was founded in 1916 as the Atworth and District Agricultural Society. West Midland Farmers renamed itself to Countrywide Farmers in 1999, becoming a joint stock company owned by 11,000 farmers. The 1994 break-up of the
Milk Marketing Board The Milk Marketing Board was a producer-run product marketing board, established by the Agricultural Marketing Act 1933, to control milk production and distribution in the United Kingdom. It functioned as buyer of last resort in the milk market in ...
eventually formed several large dairy marketing co-operatives, including
Milk Marque Milk Marque was a British dairy industry co-operative that was the successor to the Milk Marketing Board. At one point, Milk Marque controlled over half of the UK market for raw milk. In 2000, Milk Marque's activities were split into three separa ...
(since demutualised and renamed Community Foods Group),
Dairy Farmers of Britain Dairy Farmers of Britain (DFoB) was a UK co-operative milk processor that bought milk directly from farmers and had several factories producing milk and cheese products for sale in various regions throughout the UK. The company was formed as a r ...
.
Milk Link Milk Link was a large dairy company in the United Kingdom. It was the UK's largest dairy cooperative and the UK's largest producer of cheese. In 2012 the company merged with Arla Foods. History It was formed in April 2000 as one of three success ...
and First Milk. Openfield Agriculture is the largest UK co-operative grain trading business, owned by approximately 2000 farmer members with a turnover of over £800m per year.


Community co-operatives


Community shops

Community shops are not dissimilar from
food co-op A food cooperative or food co-op is a food distribution outlet organized as a cooperative, rather than a private or public company. Food cooperatives are usually consumer cooperatives, where the decisions regarding the production and distribution o ...
s but are often found in more remote villages and provide some of the services of a
convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...
but also frequently have cafe,
healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...
or library services. As of 2015, there are 330 community shops in the UK.


Community pubs

Community pubs have largely resulted from situations where a pub chain has chosen to close a pub, often in a village which is otherwise under-served by pubs. Commonly community pubs in England are established by listing the pub as an Asset of Community Value under the 2011 Localism Act before a group of local people raise sufficient funds to purchase and re-open the pub. Funds are often raised using a community shares scheme and are subsequently run as co-operatives. As of 2015, there are 35 community pubs registered in the UK. In some situations a community pub may also incorporate a community shop. Examples of community pubs include: The Angler's Rest, Bamford, Fox and Hounds, Charwelton, The Rose and Crown,
Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden, Northumberland, Warden nearby, and ...
and
The Ivy House The Ivy House is a Grade II listed public house at 40 Stuart Road, Nunhead, London. It was designed by the architect A. E. Sewell in the 1930s for Truman's Brewery. It was originally known as the Newlands Tavern, and has many original fea ...
in Nunhead, south London. Community centres Crossing over sometimes with the function of Community pubs, self organised social centres or community centres are often worker or volunteer co-operatives. Often starting off as informal collectives or squats, some social centres incorporate, often finding the co-operative model appropriate. These buildings can have community spaces, resources, bars and cafes within them. Examples include Partisan in Manchester, the
1 in 12 Club The 1 in 12 Club refers to both a members' club and the building in which it is based, in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Owned and run by its membership as a collective based upon anarchist principles, its activities include social and po ...
in
Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...
, the Cowley Club in
Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
and the
Sumac Centre The Sumac Centre is a self-managed social centre in Nottingham, UK. It provides resources, meeting spaces and workshops for groups and individuals, and supports campaigning for human rights, animal rights, the environment, and peace. It is part of ...
in Nottingham.


Community energy co-operatives

A number of community-owned co-operatives have been established to own and run small-scale renewable energy projects. Many of these operate as onshore
wind farms Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...
, small-scale solar power installations or as
micro-hydro Micro hydro is a type of hydroelectric power that typically produces from 5 kW to 100 kW of electricity using the natural flow of water. Installations below 5 kW are called pico hydro. These installations can provide power to an i ...
projects. Financing for such schemes is often a combination of community shares and loan funding and surplus funds are often distributed (once interest to loan providers and shareholders is paid) to community groups or local development projects. Examples of such co-operatives include the Baywind Energy Co-operative and
Torrs Hydro Torrs Hydro is a micro hydroelectric scheme, owned by the community, in New Mills, Derbyshire. It is located on the River Goyt, immediately after its confluence with the River Sett at the Torr weir. A 2.4-metre diameter steel trough screw turbin ...
.


Retailers'

Retailers' co-operatives (not to be confused with retail consumer co-operatives, above) provide marketing and wholesaling services to retail businesses. *Independent retail consumer co-operatives are corporate members of The Co-operative Group, a
secondary co-operative A co-operative federation or secondary co-operative is a cooperative, co-operative in which all members are, in turn, co-operatives. Historically, co-operative federations have predominantly come in the form of Co-operative wholesale society, co-ope ...
. The Co-operative Group manages the Co-operative Federal Retail and Trading Services, servicing 3,200 food stores, including its own and those of its corporate members. The Group also provides other collective buying, marketing and distribution functions. *Members of the Arizona hoteliers' marketing association, Best Western, have 280 hotels in the UK, . *UK retail business Nisa is part of The Co-operative Group. , Nisa represents 300 wholesalers and 674 retailers, with 5000 convenience stores and small supermarkets, including the Costcutter symbol group. *The Dutch association of retailers and wholesalers, Spar, is very similar to Nisa, but its UK membership is smaller. , Spar members have 2,500 outlets in the UK. *Most retail florists are members of
Interflora Interflora is a flower delivery network, associated with over 58,000 affiliated flower shops in over 140 countries. It is a subsidiary of Teleflora, a subsidiary of The Wonderful Company. History In 1920 a florist, Joe Dobson, of Leighton's ...
, a former co-operative that demutualised in 2006 (when it was acquired by its United States affiliate, Florists' Transworld Delivery.)


Support organisations

In addition to
Co-operatives UK Co-operatives UK is a British co-operative federation described as "the central membership organisation for co-operative enterprise throughout the UK". It was founded in 1870 as the Co-operative Central Board, changing its name to the Co-opera ...
, the central membership organisation for British co-operatives, there are a variety of other support organisations and secondary co-operatives serving the sector. The
Plunkett Foundation The Plunkett Foundation is a charity whith the purpose to assist rural communities in the United Kingdom to create and run community-owned businesses. The organization aims to support community-owned enterprises in the United Kingdom. It also ...
promotes co-operation in rural communities, including the agricultural and retail sectors. There are several other sectoral co-operative bodies, such as the
Confederation of Co-operative Housing A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...
and
Supporters Direct Supporters Direct are an umbrella organisation set up originally by the British government (with cross-party support) to provide support and assistance for its member trusts to secure a greater level of accountability and deliver democratic rep ...
.
The Co-operative College Co-operative College is a British educational charity dedicated to the promotion of co-operative values, ideas and principles within co-operatives, communities and society. Origins and development The Co-operative College was established in 1919 ...
has, since 1919, served the co-operative sector in terms of developing members and managers, working internationally and developing new co-operative ideas. Various independent co-operative development agencies assist the formation of new co-operative enterprises. Co-operative & Community Finance provides financing for new ventures. The
Co-operative Press The Co-operative Press is a co-operative whose principal activity is the publication of ''Co-op News''. The society's stated mission is to "connect, champion and challenge the global co-operative movement". The co-operative's members are the sub ...
publishes ''
Co-op News ''Co-op News'' is a UK-based monthly news magazine and website for the global co-operative movement. First published in Manchester in 1871 as ''The Co-operative News'', the paper is the world's oldest co-operative newspaper. Originally a weekly ...
'', the main news organ of the movement. The
UK Society for Co-operative Studies The UK Society for Co-operative Studies is a learned society and registered charity in the United Kingdom for the research of co-operatives and the co-operative movement. The society hosts conferences, lectures, and publishes the ''Journal of ...
brings together academics and co-operators and publishes the ''
Journal of Co-operative Studies A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of what happened over the course of a day or other period *Daybook, also known as a general journal, a ...
''. The Co-operative Party was formed to promote the co-operative sector in Parliament. Retail societies and other co-operatives are among the members of the party, which works with the Labour Party to elect those sympathetic to co-operative issues and to promote co-operation and mutuality. The think tank and consultancy
Mutuo Mutuo is a British advocacy organisation and think tank that advocates mutuals and cooperatives. In anticipation of the 2010 general election, it published the Mutuals Manifesto, which was the subject of an early day motion in the House of Commo ...
was originally developed by the party and now operates independently across the wider mutual sector in the United Kingdom. The Woodcraft Folk is an organisation widely considered to be the youth arm of the co-operative movement. Woodcraft Folk groups teach the principles of cooperation to children and is financially supported by the Co-operative Group and many other cooperative societies. The Wales Co-operative Centre is a co-operative development organisation based in Wales. They deliver business support for groups looking to set up co-operatives and social enterprises, and also deliver support around the themes of employee buyout and co-operative consortia working. They also provide support for organisations who are exploring setting up housing co-operatives.
Students for Cooperation Students for Cooperation (SFC) is a co-operative federation of student co-operatives across the UK, which exists to "develop and support the growing student co-operative movement". As a secondary co-op, the organization is owned and controlled ...
is a federation of 30 student co-operatives across the UK. The organisation works to support new and existing student co-ops, and to promote and raise awareness of the co-operative model amongst students.


References


External links


Co-operativesUK

The Co-operative Group

Association of British Credit Unions

Irish League of Credit Unions

Confederations of Co-operative Housing

LETS Link

Plunkett Foundation

The Woodcraft Folk

Students for Cooperation

Wales Co-operative Centre
{{DEFAULTSORT:British Co-Operative Movement Political movements in the United Kingdom British political party founders