About the Ownership Hub

Jointly run by Co‑operatives UK and the Employee Ownership Association, the Ownership Hub is working to establish more worker co‑operatives and employee‑owned businesses, as a way to enhance business performance, boost local economies and empower people in their working lives. 

The benefits of worker and employee ownership

There are around 1,100 worker- and employee-owned businesses in the UK. Together they contribute over £40 billion to the UK economy and provide more than 200,000 jobs. 

Worker and employee ownership gives people a say in how a business is run – and enables them to share in its success. Businesses benefit from having worker/employee owners as it fosters a culture that empowers people to increase performance and impact. 

As their staff are personally invested, worker- and employee-owned businesses are resilient and high‑performing, with strong staff retention. Reported benefits also include a workforce with better mental health, more confidence and sense of purpose, which drives innovation and business growth. 

Increasing worker and employee ownership benefits the wider community through creating a fairer, more inclusive and resilient regional economy. These businesses invest more in training and skills, pay a fairer basic wage, address inequality, diversity and inclusion – and are more likely to to provide community support, make charitable donations and work to improve environmental sustainability.

They can also play a crucial role in helping the government achieve its objectives for job creation and retention, levelling up, productivity, good work and sustainable development.

What the Ownership Hub does 

We raise awareness of the benefits of worker and employee ownership to new and existing business owners, business advisors and policy makers – and we support businesses to explore and adopt worker and employee ownership. 

• We work with regional economic partners and policy makers to promote and support worker and employee ownership.
• We train business advisors on how to start, scale-up or convert a business to worker/employee ownership.
• We support businesses to start-up as or transition to worker/employee ownership.

The Ownership Hub is also contributing to the five-year Reclaiming Our Regional Economies (RORE) programme in South Yorkshire and the West Midlands. This programme brings communities together with political and institutional leaders to test ideas that help reform regional economies, to make them fairer, inclusive and sustainable, so that they deliver good lives now and for generations to come. 

RORE has been developed by the New Economics Foundation (NEF), the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES), Co‑operatives UK and the Centre for Thriving Places (CTP). 

Our regional partnerships

We have so far partnered with three UK regions to promote and support the expansion of worker and employee ownership. We bring funding, ownership training, advice and expertise – and our partners bring local connections, networks and professional knowledge.

South Yorkshire
This was the first region to commit to growing the number of worker and employee owners with us. We partnered with the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority as part of its drive to create a more dynamic, productive and resilient local economy. Find out more here. 

London
We have partnered with the Greater London Authority and Mayor Sadiq Khan to support more businesses in the capital to become worker or employee owned. Our focus in London is on addressing insecure work, as well as the community, social and retail sectors. More information about this partnership coming soon.

West Midlands
We have partnered with West Midlands Combined Authority to support more businesses in the West Midlands to become worker or employee owned. Our focus in this region is on the arts and culture sector. More information about this partnership coming soon.