who we are
The co-operative has brought a group of experts together to provide you with the advice, training and support you will need if you are to set up, run and grow a sustainable mutual.
The Co-operative is a consumer owned co-operative with an annual turnover of over £13bn. It operates across a range of businesses including food, pharmacy, funerals and financial services – the latter is already the trusted partner for many public sector organisations and has been recognised for its ethical and sustainable approach.
The co-operative is a values-led business which places its members at the heart of what it does. Its history can be traced back over 160 years and it currently has over six million members. Nationally, its expertise in engaging with members and stakeholders and supporting meaningful governance and democratic control, is unparalleled. It has had considerable success supporting mutual organisations through the Co-operative Enterprise Hub, which offers training and support to new co-operative businesses, and it has worked closely with government to create new co-operative models to deliver public services, such as its pioneering work creating and supporting co-operative schools.
Cobbetts is one of the UK's leading law firms with offices in Birmingham, Leeds, London and Manchester.
It is recognised as the leading UK law firm in mutual and co-operative law and has a track record of advising public service organisations on whether they could become successful co-operatives. The firm has been at the forefront of establishing new member-owned enterprises in health, housing, education, sport and leisure, acting for around a third of authorised NHS foundation trusts and providing advice and support to the Department of Health.
Westminster Bridge Partnership (WBP) team brings 10 years experience of promoting and developing new mutual public services businesses. Led by Peter Hunt, who through Mutuo has spearheaded the policy debate on transferring public sector bodies to a wide range of community and employee led mutuals.
WBP has direct experience of helping to devise strong and accountable public service mutuals.
Examples of this work includes the development and transfer from public sector bodies of NHS Foundation Trusts, Co-operative Trust Schools, GP out of hours mutuals and mutual social housing providors.
Currently, team members are engaged in a number of varied projects in thelocal government, health and community sectors.
Our Associates
As you can see there is considerable expertise within the partnership already. However from time to time we call on associates who have specialist skills and will work with us to help you achieve your goals and ensure your enterprise is sustainable.
All our associates have been vetted to ensure that they have the right level of expertise and, crucially, share our values and principles. We already have established links with Mutuo, a think tank with a reputation for innovation in the mutual field. We are also extremely fortunate that within The Co-operative we have our own Financial Services division. We involve them at the early stages so they can assist you with advice, support and standard or bespoke financial and insurance products to meet your needs.
Find out how we provide you with a 'one stop shop' service >
And how we can help you with our six key stages >
Or try our Mutual Business Detector >