Co-op sector receives timely boost from Co-operatives UK report. A record number of entrepreneurs, employers and communities in the UK have opted for the co-operative business model, according to a new report by Co-operatives UK.
The report
Homegrown: The Co-operative Economy 2013 which was published today by Co-operatives UK, outlined how local shops, owned and run by members of communities across the UK had a combined turnover of £49m in 2012 with over 50,000 members.
Those opting for the co-op model include entrepreneurs, employers who are sharing ownership, communities, customers and even sports fans who own and run their own clubs.
Co-operative memberships reached an all-time-high of 15.4m this year, a 36% increase since 2008 and 13.6% increase in the last year, of individuals and groups owning and controlling their own business through a co-operative enterprise.
Ed Mayo, secretary general of Co-operatives UK said: "A record number of people in the UK are now members of co-operatives.
"They are economically active within those co-operatives and have a big stake in making them a success, this is why we can still see growth in the co-operative economy despite the very tough economic trading conditions.
"More and more Britons are turning to co-opratives, taking greater control of their own destiny and growing their own way out of recession."
The growing appeal of sharing ownership, profits and control has lead to a diverse co-operative economy in the UK that includes customer owned shops, community pubs, foster-care and child-care and multi-million pound co-operatives.
Last year more than 8,000 members raised £9m through community share offers, Mayo said this included a group of regulars at the Bell Inn in Bath, who gained the support and endorsement of more than a dozen celebrities to raise more than £780,000 to buy their local pub.
Mayo said: 'People are taking action, they want to say what matters to them.
"In this time of limited economic growth and social challenges, the appetite is to seek to achieve independent control, to run a fair organisation that benefits all and to place increasing importance on planning for the longer term.
"The result is that the co-operative enterprise, with these principles at its heart, is becoming a very real option for creating a resilient, home-grown co-operative economy."
This report came after the capital shortfall at the Co-operative Bank, part of the Co-operative Group.
Posted by Aimee Meade
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