Supporting fair and ethical business in partnership with The Co-operative Bank

Business Support – convert to a co-op: Application form

Share

Please complete the application below.

You may save and resume your application at any stage. However, we advise you to prepare your responses in advance in a word document and then copy the text into this form, so you have a backup version of your responses should there be any technical issues.

IMPORTANT: Please fill in the "Primary contact details" and the "Privacy Notice" in the main form BEFORE you click on "save my progress and resume later" as otherwise the form will not save.

After that, at any stage, click on "save my progress and resume later". Please ensure to save as you go along. The link to resume your application will be sent to your email address. If you do not receive the link, please first check your spam/junk folder and then contact [email protected].

| Resume a previously saved form
Resume Later

In order to be able to resume this form later, please enter your email and choose a password.

Password must contain the following:
  • 12 Characters
  • 1 Uppercase letter
  • 1 Lowercase letter
  • 1 Number
  • 1 Special character
1. Primary Contact




Please include national prefix for non-UK numbers.

2. Privacy notice
By completing the application, you agree that the information is a fair and accurate reflection of your organisation and its support needs.  

By completing the application form you also agree with our privacy notice below.  

Co-operatives UK is committed to processing information in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and in line with our privacy policy. 

This form requires you to enter a small amount of necessary personal data which will be held securely and will only be used for administration purposes. You are welcome to contact us to discuss the data we hold about you at any time.  

The information captured in your application form will help Co-operatives UK and our funding partners to review and decide on your application for support. Business Support for Co-ops is a national programme delivered by Co-operatives UK in partnership with the Co-operative Bank. Some support packages are provided by additional partners listed here.  

If your application is successful, you will have entered into a contract with us to deliver the support requested. In order to fulfil that, it is essential for us to share your contact details with relevant third parties who will be delivering the support., All our third-party support advisors (listed here) are required to take appropriate security measures to protect your personal information in line with our privacy policy and they are only permitted to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.  

Please note that your consent is considered valid from the moment you check the box below and start your application, not when you submit your finished application.

3.  Organisation

This is not a requirement to apply.
Your organisation's registered address





4. About your organisation

Please use the exact name that is registered with the relevant regulatory body, for example Companies House or the Financial Conduct Authority.

Summarise in one sentence the purpose of your organisation. (Max 25 words)



(Max 150 words)

(Max 150 words)

5. Your organisation's structure
Understanding how your organisation is structured, and its scale, will help us identify the co-op experts best suited for your organisation. 

This is the number your organisation was given when it registered with the relevant registration body, i.e. Companies House or the Financial Conduct Authority.





Use the double arrows (<<) to jump to previous years.

Please indicate the region where your organisation has its registered address.

This is not a requirement to participate in this support programme.


Including board members that are employees.

Including board members that are employees.

6. Your organisation's finances
Understanding your organisation's finances and its scale will help us identify the co-op experts best suited for your organisation.






   

Please indicate what type
7. Becoming a co-op

(Max 150 words)

These could be your users, your clients, your workers, your community, etc. If there are multiple groups of people, please list them all, and indicate if there are priorities within the list. If you are not sure yet, tell us what you are planning for now. (Max 150 words)

Who are you going to involve? How will you involve them and when? Have you already started this process? (Max 150 words)

(Max 150 words)

8. Buyout



If so, please provide a bit more information, for example how many people, what role they currently have in the organisation and what role they will have in the new co-op. (Max 150 words)


9. Your support needs
Understanding your needs will help us identify the co-op experts best suited for your organisation.


(Max 150 words)

We cannot provide all the activities below as part of the support package, so please indicate your top three priorities.

If so, please indicate the name of the programme, the type of support it provides, and if you have been awarded the support. (Max 150 words)

These activities are strongly encouraged but are not a requirement to receive this support package.


If your application is successful, we will make every effort to allocate you your preferred support advisor. However, we reserve the right to offer an alternative based on availability, geography, skills and experience. (Max 150 words)

As part of this support package, you can receive up to half a day of peer support from another co-op. If your application is successful, we will make every effort to allocate you your preferred co-op. However, we reserve the right to offer an alternative based on availability, geography, skills and experience. (Max 150 words)

Please let us know if there are any barriers to your team’s participation in this programme or if some of your team members have specific needs that we need to consider when assigning the support package. For example, restrictions on time, or barriers that require the support to be delivered in person or online, etc. (Max 150 words).
10. Equality, diversity and inclusion
Co-operatives UK is keen to support organisations that are led by, employ or support people that identify with groups that are under-represented or discriminated against in the business and third sector, in the workplace or in their communities. Completion of these questions is voluntary, but encouraged, as diversity will be one of the aspects we will consider when prioritising applications in our assessment process.

Are there people in your leadership team (board, senior management, etc) who identify with any groups that you consider under-represented or discriminated against in the business or third sector, in the workplace or in your communities? If so, please share a bit more information, for example which groups and what percentage of your leadership team identify with the groups indicated. (Max 150 words)

Does your organisation employ people that identify with any groups that you consider under-represented or discriminated against in the business or third sector, in the workplace or in your communities? If so, please share a bit more information, for example which groups and what percentage of your employees identify with the groups indicated. (Max 150 words)

Does your organisation directly support people that identify with any groups that you consider under-represented or discriminated against in the business or third sector, in the workplace or in your communities? If so, please share a bit more information, for example which groups and what percentage of the people you support identify with the groups indicated. (Max 150 words)

If you work in a local area, please indicate up to three main postcodes your organisation operates in.  Please provide postcodes in full and in the correct format, for example, M2 1BB, CB2 1QA or BS32 0BQ.  We will match the postcodes given against the IMD (Index of Multiple Deprivation), which classifies the relative deprivation of postcodes across the UK. 



11. Supporting documents
To be eligible for this programme you must provide your most recent financial accounts, including a Profit & Loss Statement. 

You are welcome to submit additional documentation, though it is not a requirement. 

Please attach supporting documents clearly named [Organisation name-document name]. Documents can be .pdf, .doc, .docx, .xlsx, .xls. Each file can be a maximum of 25MB.

If you have a business plan or slide deck about your organisation, you can upload it here, though this is not a requirement.

Please upload any other documentation you would like to share.




12. Your marketing channels
Co-operatives UK would like to follow/engage with you on your journey through this process. Please help us do this by providing as many of the below marketing links as you can. These links will also help us to assess your application and understand more about your organisation.













Once you have submitted your application, we will share your details with The Co‑operative Bank. 


We're pleased to pass your details to The Co‑operative Bank, however, Co-operatives UK is unable to take any responsibility for the next steps and for how quickly the Bank responds to you.  

* The Co‑operative Bank reserves the right to review the account tariff for Community Directplus customers who exceed any one of the following annual limits: credit turnover exceeds £1 million, deposit more than £100,000 in cash, or deposit more than 5,000 cheques. When submitting your application on The Co‑operative Bank’s website, your application is subject to status. This means your financial circumstances will be assessed and credit checks completed. 


This fee is to ensure your commitment to the support package. Please let us know if this is an obstacle to your participation in the programme as we will consider waiving the fee (Max 50 words).
13. Submit form
If you are happy with the details completed on this form, you can now submit the form.  
To check your response before submitting you can use the 'previous page' button. 

Once you have submitted you will be sent a confirmation email with a copy of the application.

If you do not receive a confirmation email, please first check your email spam or junk folder. If you’ve still not received an email, get in touch via [email protected] and we can confirm if we have received your application.
Save my progress and resume later | Resume a previously saved form