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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InFact Digital Co-op, which received start-up support from The Hive

Featured content

Annual reports

Read and download Co-operatives UK's latest annual report and financial statements.

Vote in the Co-op of the Year Awards

Content by Co‑op of the Year

Voting is now open in the co-op sector’s annual awards - which celebrate the achievements of co‑operators and co‑operative organisations across the UK.

Policy Blog #21: Economic democracy for all?

Community ownership has been one of the biggest democratising forces in our economy, from farming to football. The UK government’s new Community Ownership Fund could help spread the benefits further, including into more disadvantaged and marginalised…

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.

Support for your co‑op

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…

What is a co-op

Many of us have heard of co-ops, but do you actually know what one is? Spoiler alert: high street convenience stores are the most well-known type of co-op here in the UK, but they're not the only type of co-op.

Latest news

UnFound: The six Accelerator teams revealed!

Content by Unfound

Co-operatives UK and Stir to Action are proud to reveal the six teams joining the UnFound Accelerator, which launches next week (12 May).

5 days ago

The Manchester football club which is profiting from fan-ownership

Content by Community Shares Booster Fund

Wythenshawe AFC played a Manchester United team featuring Bobby Charlton in the Altrincham Cup in 1956. The two Manchester clubs are just a few miles apart – but have followed very different paths…

18 days ago

Two people being presented with an award

Co-op of the Year shortlist announced – vote for your favourites

Content by Co‑op of the Year

Voting opens today (21 April 2021) for the Co-op of the Year Awards with 23 co-ops and five co-op councils shortlisted for a prestigious national award.

20 days ago

Pioneering business support programme aims to create new ethical tech businesses

Content by Unfound

The UnFound Accelerator has opened for applications, aiming to launch a new wave of fairer, ethical and co-operatively owned tech platforms before the end of the year.

1 month ago

How many co-ops are there?

The UK’s 7,063 independent co-ops employ 241,714 people
Over 14 million members own and have a say in how the nation's co-ops operate
Co-ops contribute £38.2 billion to the UK economy
76% of co-op start-ups are still flourishing after the difficult first five years
Just 42% of new companies make it through to the end of year five

Find out more