Rebuilding Business for Society

Today, our Society is featured as a case study in a report launched by the Building Societies Association on the link between mutual ownership and business purpose.

Midcounties are one of over 7,000 Co-operatives in the UK and our representative body, Co-ops UK, are working alongside other businesses owned by their members or employees, to call on the Government to recognise the vital role that these organisations can play as we all look to rebuild the economy following the effects of Covid-19.

The report “Rebuilding Business for society” will be launched at a session chaired by Lord Victor Adebowale (Chair, Social Enterprise UK) with Anneliese Dodds MP (Labour Shadow Chancellor) and Baroness Nicky Morgan (Conservative, former Chair, Treasury Select Committee) as the keynote speakers.

How are we are involved?

Our Chief Values Officer, Pete Westall will be one of the 3 business representatives on the panel, following an invitation by Co-ops UK, to take questions from the audience of over 170 representatives from business, Government, think tanks, regulators & journalists.

Pete will be highlighting how important it is for the economy to have different types of business ownership as well as stressing the many advantages Co-operatives & other types of businesses have by being owned by members, customers or colleagues.  

He’ll use our Society as an example to stress the actions that you will have both seen and played your part in over the last few months in particular, where we have worked with our members and local communities to ensure the support we gave was timely, relevant and effective at a local level.

Whilst there were many ways in which Midcounties facilitated self-help in the communities where we trade, there were, and indeed still are, some notable & significant achievements. These include building on our strong community links by making over 75,000 food and pharmacy deliveries to vulnerable customers in partnership with 100 local mutual-aid groups and over 700 volunteers;  working with our members to raise over £45k for local foodbanks & helping those who help others by donating over £75k to a community restart fund for local charity partners.

All of these demonstrated that because we’re democratically owned by members in the communities in which we trade, we’re an example of a type of business that can be responsive to member needs and able to tailor added community benefit.  

This report will provide the Government with a number of recommendations that we hope will be at the centre of Britain’s economic fightback from Coronavirus, and will encourage a change in the business environment to create awareness of us, of Co-operatives, as well as other member & employee-owned businesses. That awareness-raising will be a real help when the Government considers the future design of programmes intended to support businesses, such as access to finance schemes and business advice schemes.