After registration

This section aims to give you some additional hints and tips for things you need to consider after registering your co-operative. The list is by no means exhaustive but will hopefully help you along your way!

You’ve created your co-operative and are about to begin trading. Here are our top 10 tips on things a new co‑operative needs to know:

1. Open a bank account (if you haven't set up a business bank account yet, you may want to look at the community accounts of our partner The Co-operative Bank. Their community accounts are designed specifically for co-operatives, social enterprises and charities). 
2. Know your registrar. Information for companies can be found at Companies House. Information for societies can be found at the Financial Conduct Authority.
3. Directors and other officers, including the Secretary, of your co‑operative play a particular role in the governance of your co-operative and have particular responsibilities.
4. Appoint an auditor or independent examiner if required in the governing document of your co‑operative. Know the requirements for your co‑operative company or society.
5. Consider if you need to appoint additional directors to your co‑operative.
6. Organise your co‑operative’s stationery and ensure that your corporate details are displayed correctly.
7. Get to grips with your co‑operative’s governance administration. Ensure that you set up and maintain statutory registers for your co‑operative e.g. register of members, register of directors, share register etc. 
8. Consider insurance for your co‑operative. Get a great offer from Co-operative Insurance..
9. Consider your co‑operative's web presence and domain names. Stand out from the crowd, get a .coop domain name for your co-operative.
10. Map out your co‑operative and governance year e.g. know your financial year end, when to hold your AGM and file your annual return and accounts.

Other tips include

• Join Co-operatives UK to be part of a a unique network of co-operatives and receive specialist support relevant to your co-operative.
• Visit the growing your business section of The Hive once you're trading, to see how you can get help developing in areas from marketing your co-operative to growing your membership.
• Plunkett Foundation have good material on practical things to do in their preparing to trade resource.
• Register with HMRC for Corporation Tax. If they suggest you register for PAYE explain that you have and will have no employees if that is the case.
• Consider what additional governance documents your co-operative may need eg. secondary rules and any policies eg. health and safety it may need to develop and consider who needs to develop these.