Tackling Barriers to Building a Cooperative Economy

• Lead Member Oldham Council
• Participating Members Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), Oldham Council, Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council, Wigan Council
• Year 2025
• Status Policy Labs
• 

  Report
  Bid

About the project

As the title of this Policy Lab might imply, we currently don’t really have a “Cooperative Economy” in the UK: we have lots of co‑operatives operating mainly as islands within an otherwise competitive and largely profit-driven economy, where their influence is marginal.

We understand the term “Cooperative Economy” to denote something different from the mainstream economy. It is where people and organisations work together in a way which is guided by some shared values and principles which challenge the traditional competitive and financially driven approach. But it has to exist within the mainstream economy, and over time to influence it.

The ultimate aim is the happiness and wellbeing of all, not the private benefit of some. More specifically, it means people and organisations conducting their affairs differently, with everybody in mind, including future generations. Seeking to register lots of new cooperatives has (crudely) been the approach of recent years; it hasn’t worked. The desired outcome needs a different approach.

For further information concerning this project contact:

Jonathan Downs
Oldham Council

• jonathan.downs@oldham.gov.uk