What happened at the Co-operatives UK Autumn Forum

A wet and windy Manchester day saw Co-operatives UK undertake something of an experiment: the Autumn Forum brought together three successful events under one umbrella, along with a new event focussing on people and performance. Secretaries, accountants and HR professionals from across the co-operative sector came together to share knowledge and best practice for the first time.

The day started with a keynote address from Sue Slipman, Chief Executive of the Foundation Trust Network, who gave an informative talk on the government's plan for reforming the health sector and the opportunities this has for the mutual sector. She told attendees that Foundation Trusts will have a primary role to play in the new NHS, and that the values and reputation of the co-operative sector are key to ensuring that patients and taxpayers both get the best out of the healthcare system.

Attendees then split to attend sessions geared to their individual professional interests - from technical updates on tax and audit requirements for the accountants to a proposal for an Institute of Co-operative Development or recent changes in IPS law. Everybody came back together to watch Ed Mayo of Co-operatives UK launch the new Simply Series, aimed at small new start co-operatives looking for help getting started.

After lunch, attendees chose from a variety of sessions covering all aspects of the thriving co-operative sector. There was a call to turn co-operative statistics into co-operative intelligence, an introduction to some of the recent governance tools provided by Co-operatives UK, and a participative session that allowed attendees to set the agenda for Co-operatives UK's innovation strand of work in 2012.

The final address of the event was from Paul Sharma of the FSA, talking about the future for the co-operative sector once the FSA is broken up. Plans for the IPS registration function carried out by the FSA are still not concrete, but Paul was keen to point out the amount of trust and respect the government have for the sector's alternative business model and history.

Anyone who missed the event can find slides from the presentations at www.uk.coop/autumn/downloads - but the only way to find out what you've been missing at Co-operatives UK's events is to go yourself: booking is now open for the 2012 National Retail Consumer Conference in Stratford. If you are working in the consumer co-operative sector, this is one of the key events in the co-operative calendar. Visit www.uk.coop/nrcc to find out more details.