Co-operative economy grows to £33.5 billion

Co-operatives UK Secretary General Ed Mayo says that ‘co-ops have maintained momentum’

July 06 2010

The UK co-operative economy is going from strength, despite the economic downturn, and last year achieved a new record turnover of almost £33.5 billion.

This impressive figure — up by 15.8 per cent from the previous year’s £28.9 billion — is the key statistic in the report on the state of the Movement released during the recent Congress weekend at Plymouth. The report stated that while co-operative businesses pushed up their combined turnover, the nation’s Gross Domestic Product decreased by 4.9 per cent during the same period.

Reviewing what Co-operatives UK said had been a period of “incredible growth” for the sector, the report emphasised the continued renaissance of the Co-operative Group and the addition of both Somerfield and Britannia had been a key factor in the Movement’s improved performance.

The figures showed there were 4,992 different co-ops in the UK — a 14.2 per cent increase in the three-year period since 2006. Overall co-op membership reached 12.9 million, or more than one in five of the UK’s population. This figure represented a 14.6 per cent increase on 2008 and a 17.8 per cent rise on 2006. So there are two million more co-op members in three years.

However, while acknowledging the contribution of the Co-operative Group, the report said smaller co-ops such as the Phone Co-op, the Edinburgh Bicycle Co-op and Dulas have experienced rapid growth, while societies such as Midlands, Midcounties, East of England and Scotmid continued to be major players.

There had also been a big increase in ‘knowledge economy’ and creative co-ops. Said the report: “Many of the new co-ops are addressing needs faced by groups of people — new community owned shops for example, green energy co-operatives and co-operatives to take control of sport. But the new co-ops also reflect the wider business environment and freelancers and creatives are setting up new co-ops.”

Co-ops including community-owned, agricultural, housing, fishing, and credit unions employed 237,870 people last year, an increase of 15.6 per cent on 2008.

Co-operatives UK Secretary General Ed Mayo said: “Despite the ongoing difficulties in many sectors of the economy, co-ops have maintained their momentum of recent years and continue to grow and prosper. Co-ops are not immune to the woes of the economy, but the results show that the co-op economy is in good shape.”

The Co-operative UK 100 — the annual ranking of the UK’s biggest co-operative businesses — was also unveiled. The top ten co-operative businesses in the UK are the Co-operative Group, John Lewis Partnership, Midlands Co-operative, Midcounties, First Milk, Milk Link, National Merchant Buying Society, Openfield Group, East of England Co-operative and Scotmid.