Co-operatives UK Legal Team

Alongside a national network of specialist advisers the Co-operatives UK Legal Team aims to grow the co-operative economy and develop stronger co-operative enterprises by offering high quality professional legal and governance advice and guidance to new start and established co-operatives.

Is the co-operative business model right for you?

Through our simple guides, films and one-2-one advice we can help you understand what a co-operative is and whether it’s the right business model for you.

Finding the right legal structure for your enterprise

By talking to you about your idea we can help you to think through your legal structure, decide on a legal form and help you with your governing document. Use our online select-a-structure exercise to help you to decide which legal structure will suit you best.

Registering your co-operative

When you are ready to register your co-operative we offer a comprehensive and affordable registration service. We will hold your hand every step of the way from choosing a name for your co-operative through to filing the paperwork with the Registrar. We will take care of the registration process allowing you to concentrate on getting your business up and running.

Co-operatives UK is acknowledged, by the FSA, as a sponsoring body for co-operative society registrations.  Sponsoring bodies are those organisations with approved model rules and the benefits of registering via a sponsoring body using a set of model rules is that it provides a smoother, more cost efficient way of registering a co-operative society than registering with a bespoke set of rules.

Once you are up and running

Once your business is established we can help you to grow and develop your co-operative.

• Constitutional & governance advice – We are here to help you with any questions you might have about the governance of your co-operative be it running meetings, electing board members or encouraging member participation.
• Legal advice – When you need legal advice you need to know that your solicitor understands your co-operative structure. We work with a national firm of solicitors to provide 2 hours free advice to our members on anything from property law, to employment law to litigation.
• Governance audit – If you are thinking of restructuring or updating your governing document we are here to help. Our Governance Audit tool will help you to identify how you operate now and recommends what you can do in order to get your co-operative where you want it to get to and we can offer advice and training to help you to get there.
• Training – It is important to make sure you have the right skills to run your co-operative well. Alongside a national network of specialist advisers we offer a range of training courses which include training your Board on their roles and responsibilities and setting up a subsidiary.
• Keeping you up-to-date – Keeping you abreast of changes in legislation and policy affecting co-operatives means that you will always know what is affecting your business. We publish blogs and updates to make sure nothing comes as a surprise to you and your co-operative.
• Running your co-operative well - We provide a range of publications covering everything from decision making and good governance, to financing your co-operative to help you to run your co-operative well.

If you would like more information about our services please contact the Legal Team.