Co-operatives UK

Co‑operatives UK is the voice for the UK’s thousands of independent co‑ops.

We support co‑ops to start up and thrive – join us to access expert advice, events and training. Find out what a co‑op actually is and how we can help.

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Enabled works empowers people with disabilities to become business owners (photographer Robin Mitchell)

Featured content

Practitioners Forum 2021

Content by Practitioners Forum

Book tickets now for Practitioners Forum, our flagship training event for people working in co‑operative businesses large and small.

As the network for the UK's thousands of co-operative businesses, we provide support in HR, culture, governance, finance, marketing, membership strategy and co-operative development. Browse our extensive library of online resources, blogs and…

Guide to co-ops

Read our handy guide, which explains in simple terms what a co‑op is (and why they're so great).

The Co-op Economy

The Co-op Economy is the nation’s only comprehensive report on the UK’s co‑operative sector. It reveals turnover, membership and employee figures for co‑op businesses across the UK.

Contact package

Our contact package provides access to the best support from leading advisers on co-op governance, finance, HR and membership

Co-operatives UK offers open surgeries with new CEO

Co-operatives UK’s newly appointed CEO, Rose Marley, is offering one to one surgeries to talk all things co-operative.

Latest news

UK co-ops call on government to demand more of business on climate action

The UK’s co-operative sector, which contributes £40 billion to the economy, today (25 October 2021) calls on the government to demand more from businesses to address the climate emergency, ahead of…

2 days ago

UnFound Accelerator live pitch event – July 2021

Winners of the UnFound Accelerator £10,000 prize fund revealed

Content by Unfound

£10,000 in prize money was shared between six teams who took part in the first UnFound Accelerator live pitch event last night (Wednesday 21 July).

3 months ago

Co-operatives UK welcomes government's £150 million Community Ownership Fund

Content by Community Shares

Open to community organisations across the UK, the Community Ownership Fund provides up to 50 per cent match-funded capital grants to help take ownership of 'at risk' assets.

3 months ago

Clearer guidance around the Covid-19 app is needed, says Co-operatives UK CEO

Co-operative businesses are reporting a sharp increase in their staff receiving notifications from the Covid-19 app.

3 months ago

How many co-ops are there?

The UK’s 7,237 independent co-ops employ 250,128 people
Co-ops contribute £39.7 billion to the UK economy
There are nearly 14 million memberships of co-ops. The members own and have a say in how the nation's co-ops operate
Co-ops proved four times less likely to cease trading during 2020
The UK co-op sector grew by £1.1 billion in 2020, despite the pandemic

Find out more