Business Support – start a co-op: Eligibility check

Before you start

Before you start your application make sure you have read the application guidance, which includes a preview of all the questions of this form. Specifically, you should:

• Prepare your questions in advance – you can download a preview of the questions

• Gather in advance all the information you need to include in your application.

Information required

You will be asked to include the following information and documents about your organisation so please have the following to hand:

• A short biography and motivational statement by at least two team members 

• If you are an organisation that is already incorporated, you will also need to provide your organisation's:

  • Registration number. 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
  • Legal form
  • Incorporation date

Eligibility

This programme is for start-ups. To be eligible for this programme you must fall into one of the following categories: 

• A group of people aiming to register as a co-op in the UK within 12 months 

• An existing organisation aiming to convert to a co-op in the next 12 months, that has been incorporated for less than 18 months and/or has not started trading 

• An existing co-op incorporated in the UK less than 18 months ago and/or has not started trading 

If you have been incorporated for more than 18 months and have started trading, you will not be eligible for the start-up programme. Instead you can access support from Co-operatives UK's advice team or apply for the following programmes: 

• For an established co-op, apply to our programme for existing co-ops

• For an established organisation that is not a co-op, apply to our programme to convert to a co-op