Upcoming Events :
Housing Seminar: Partnerships with the Public Sector – Avoiding the pitfalls
Thu 31 May 2012
Minerva House, 5 Montague Close, London, SE1 9BB
Co-operatives Bill draws praise
Tue 24 Jan 2012
David Cameron's confirmation that a new Co-operatives Bill is to pass through parliament has been welcomed.
According to Len Wardle, group chair at The Co-operative Group, the proposed legislation will help to put co-operatives on an "equal footing with other business models", the Guardian reports.
Mr Wardle noted that while a "staggering" 1.4 million co-operatives currently exist around the world, this model is "often overlooked in favour of the plc business model" in the UK.
This, he said, is partly because the existing legislation is "outdated" and "piecemeal", with 17 separate laws containing "obsolete and obscure" language.
Mr Wardle stated that by consolidating all the existing rules and regulations into a single law, it will make it much simpler and less costly to set up this type of organisation in Britain.
Simon Randall, consultant with Winckworth Sherwood, said: "Involvement with co-operatives under the coalition government programme was a key commitment in the transfer of public sector services.
"In particular, the new Right to Challenge under the Localism Act will permit local authority employees to take over the services for which they are currently responsible through the creation of a co-operative or mutual organisation.
"It is very welcome that new legislation is introduced to simplify the legislation and reduce the hurdles for such employees keen to become their own bosses. Winckworth Sherwood has seen growing interest among local authorities exploring this avenue for their services prompted by our guidebook to the Localism Act provisions."
Speaking last week, the prime minister described embracing the co-operative model as the "best way of improving public services", as it would lead to more people becoming "shareholders in the economy".
