Co-operatives Unleashed – Toolkit Policy
Project Co-ordinator
Anna PeacheyEconomy
Partnerships and Regeneration Manager
Plymouth City Council
Cooperatives Unleashed – Toolkit Policy
Drivers for co-operative development include new legislation, fiscal changes and public awareness. These all contribute to an ever-changing policy environment that can provide opportunities for new and different co-operative businesses and for council policy to support it.
Below, you will find case studies for a variety of policy drivers to aid councils in creating a conducive culture for delivering growth in the co-operative economy.
- Publish a corporate commitment to support growth of the co-operative economy
Template: Corporate commitment to support growth of the co-operative sector
We believe there is scope to increase the number of businesses owned by the people that employ them. People should be able to come together to use their buying power to improve the quality of the goods and services they receive.
Our target is to double to size of the co-operative economy by 2025.
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- Publish a strategic action plan to create an Ambassador programme across the Council
Case study
Ambassador Programme – Co-operative Glasgow
‘A Co-operative Champions Network provides effective strategic support to the work of the Co-operative Development Unit and the objectives of Co-operative Glasgow. The Network comprises representatives from across the Council and its arm’s length external organisations. Its remit includes identifying potential co-operative service delivery opportunities and communicating ‘Co-operative Glasgow’ internally and with external partner organisations. The Network is chaired by the Executive Member for Health and Social Care, with additional political representation from the Deputy Leader of the Council, who was previously the Network’s Chair. ‘
Alan Davidson, Principal – Economic Initiatives, was asked in 2012 to develop the co-operative sector. He previously worked for the third sector. His first job in GCC was working with the City’s Credit Unions.
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- Ensure that social value policy and delivery incorporate incentives to encourage buying from community-owned businesses.
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Policy Drivers
We have identified numerous policy drivers for councils to set up or spin out new companies where co-operative models provide solutions to policy challenges. A summary and illustrative case study is provided. These include filling procurement gaps, pooling resources to increase equality of provision, managing community assets, spinning out profitable services, addressing wicked problems with multiple stakeholders and getting a community to collaborate to provide a service or goods locally.
Community wealth building includes the principle of addressing weaknesses in the supply chains of anchor institutions, with worker co-operatives that are based in deprived neighbourhoods.
Case study:Evergreen Cooperative Corporation
In Cleveland, Ohio, the Evergreen Cooperative Corporation includes energy services, a salad producer and a laundry. It was founded through a partnership of the Cleveland Foundation, the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University, and the municipal government.
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- Inconsistency of Income Streams
In a group or community, inequality is overcome by pooling resources to buy or access goods or services.
Case study: CATERed
Following the Jamie Oliver initiative to raise the standard of school dinners, it became apparent that the differences in funding between schools in Plymouth made it very difficult to provide the same standard of nutrition to all pupils across the city. As a result, Plymouth City Council led the development of CATERed which is 51% owned by the Council and 49% owned by a consortium of over 60 schools. Their motto is “every child, every time”
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- Community Asset Management
The assets most likely to be taken over by local communities are community centres (56% of local authorities surveyed had transferred management), public green spaces (49%), sports facilities (35%) and libraries (28%).
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- Council Service Creates a Surplus
Non-statutory services run by councils can become profitable as markets and technology change. Under s.93 of the Local Government Act 2003, charging powers changed and the council could either deliver at cost, or spin out the service as a new company. The Localism Act 2011 expanded on this by requiring that profitable activity be conducted through a separately constituted company.
Case study: Oldham Community Leisure
Several leisure trusts were set up around the time of the LGA 2003, including Oldham Community Leisure, which was established in 2002. Members can include service users and employees.
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Many of the challenges addressed by councils have complex interdependencies, where the effort to solve one aspect of a problem may reveal or create other problems, making it helpful for multiple stakeholders to work together in a democratic structure.
Case study: Complex Needs Alliance Contract
Although not a separate legal entity, Plymouth City Council’s £35m Complex Needs Alliance Contract has attracted national attention for the way that it brings together an alliance of seven services and three commissioners, including the council, in a one-member-one-vote agreement covering housing and health services.
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- Increased Community Demand
Individuals or organisations collaborate to access a service, asset or goods where demand across the community makes the service viable.
Case study: Oldham Community Power
“The renewable energy installations undertaken by Oldham Community Power will all be owned by and run by the people and voluntary and community sector, with a priority on those based in Oldham. This is a true community energy project.
Ownership of the installations is through community share issues, with priority membership given to the residents, charities, and businesses of Oldham in the case of oversubscription. Community shares will be offered to the total cost of the installations planned in each phase, with each share having a fixed value of £1.
Everyone purchasing community shares becomes a member of Oldham Community Power, with a single vote given to all shareholders whether they hold 100 or 10,000 shares.
Oldham Community Power is run by a board of volunteer directors; all money raised by generating energy is kept local, through returns to investors and supporting local projects in the case of excess income. Supporting Oldham Community Power gives you and your community the chance to be rewarded for helping the environment!”
Delivering community-owned energy in the Oldham borough
Oldham Community Power is an incorporated Community Benefit Society that has been created to install community-owned renewable energy on public buildings in Oldham.
Since its incorporation in February 2016, Oldham Community Power have successfully installed 220 kW of solar PV on five schools and one community building in Oldham; electricity generated is sold directly to the sites at a discount to market rates, and any surplus is exported to the national grid.
Oldham Council made available up to £274,000 to underwrite/guarantee the first phase and invested £15,000 in the share offer from their Pioneer shareholding scheme.
Oldham Council have been granted a permanent seat on the Board. This recognises the role and place of Oldham Council in the initial set up of the project and in the number of Council buildings involved in the project.
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- Spin Out of a Public Service Mutual
Where staff are keen to deliver their public services and grow their positive social impact, Mutuals have a significant degree of employee ownership, influence or control in the way the organisation is run.
Case study: PossAbilities, Rochdale
Formerly the Adult Social Care Provider within Rochdale MBC, it has a turnover of £12m, 600 employees and has been rated ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). A Staff Director is elected by their peers and has a seat on the Board.
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Where a business is likely to be viable in the long term but funding is required at the start, the council can support with loans, grants and the purchase of shares. This helps to overcome difficulties of persuading high street lenders of viability and track record. It can also be used to encourage the community to invest.
Case study: Nudge Community Builders
Nudge is a CBS that was set up in 2017 by Stonehouse residents to bring buildings back into use. In 2018, Nudge received money from Plymouth City Council starting with an £80,000 bridging loan. Then, through the Social Enterprise Investment Fund (SEIF), a £60,000 loan, £20,000 capital grant and £10,000 revenue grant were provided for Nudge to prepare for their first community share offer and enable the renovation costs and revenue to scale quickly. Nudge raised a total of £206,750 in community shares including £20,000 from the council’s award-winning Crowdfund page which uses Community Investment Levy to support community projects. This bought a derelict public house for conversion to a café / community market space and flats designed for single parents and their visiting children. Nudge has grown out of local people wanting to make things happen in their area.
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- Growing Co-operatives – Relocation
Co-operatives grow in several ways – including turnover, employment, membership and impact.
Case study: Glasgow Credit Unions
Glasgow City Council’s Co-operative Development Unit developed from a programme of support for the City’s Credit Unions. 33 Credit Unions have over 160,000 members and over £250m in assets. Support from the Council helped 21 to relocate.
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- Growing Co-operatives – Expansion
The role of economic development service in councils is to grow the local economy – bringing more and better jobs, and prosperity to the area. Co-operatives can add value by retaining a higher proportion of that growth in the local economy, through wages, profit distribution and support for community initiatives.
Case study: Bala Sport, Glasgow
One of the first co-operatives supported by Glasgow City Council was to working with FairTrade manufacturers in Sialkot, Pakistan (where around 70% of the world’s hand-stitched balls are made). Bala Sport was established 2014 with £20,000 from the Council’s Co-operative Glasgow Business Development Fund.
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