Dame Pauline Green was the guest of honour at an event celebrating the 40th birthday of CASE – Leicester’s Co-operative And Social Enterprise development agency. At its formation in 1982, the agency was called Leicester Co-operative Development Agency. The celebration took place in the premises of one of Leicester’s oldest trading co-ops, Soft Touch Arts …
Credit union membership and lending has increased significantly in response to the cost of living of crisis. This growth in lending is despite a rationalisation process that has seen the closure of weaker unions, leading to a fall in their total number. According to Bank of England statistics published in August, the number of adult …
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It is too soon to assess the impact of Covid-19 – but we know it is terrible in health, social and financial terms. The eventual impact will be determined by the virus itself and how governments mitigate it – can a vaccine be developed, and if so, how quickly?; do people who have caught the …
More than 150,000 holiday makers had to be repatriated following the collapse of travel agents Thomas Cook. The business failure could lead to the loss of the firm’s 21,000 employees’ jobs – 9,000 of these in the UK – unless the administrators can sell at least part of the business as a going concern. While …
Co-operative legislation in Ireland is set for a major overhaul, but the slow pace of decision-making is leaving uncertainty for the sector. It was back in 2016 that Ireland’s Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation’s Co-operative Legislation Unit initiated a review of the relevant laws, the Industrial and Provident Societies Acts that date from the …
The Co-operative Party Northern Ireland has produced its first ever local manifesto, despite this being the only UK nation where the Co-op Party is unable to support candidates as sister party, Labour, does not participate in elections. Instead, the Co-op Party seeks to influence those parties that do contest Northern Ireland elections. The manifesto was …
The collapse of the Cyprus Co-operative Bank was neither the largest nor the most famous of the banking failures that domino-ed across Europe in the wake of the ‘great recession’. But it carried many of the same characteristics – and illustrated that mutual banks are just as capable as plcs of being ruined by mismanagement …
Traidcraft – one of the pathfinders of Fairtrade commerce in the UK – is in crisis. After completing a restructuring exercise the organisation will be employing just 12 staff, down from the 67 it currently has. Twenty two staff have chosen voluntary redundancy, while 45 employees have been issued with formal redundancy notices. In …
“The Co-operative Bank has largely avoided the consequences of the market turmoil. Our cautious and responsible approach to business development limited our exposure to the problems that have afflicted many in the sector.” Those words by the then chief executive, David Anderson, of The Co-operative Bank still reverberate a decade on – they were written …
Portrush on Northern Ireland’s most northerly coast was not the most hospitable of places during the cold winds of the ‘Beast from the East’, yet the Northern Ireland Co-operative Party’s weekend policy school was well attended – despite some journeys being literally derailed. (The Enterprise rail service from Dublin to Belfast was suspended and flights …
Credit unions are struggling to cope with the challenge of switching to digital functionality, according to a global report from the Digital Growth consultancy. While this is also true for banks, it is clear that small credit unions have particular difficulty in adapting to the online world because of cost and often outdated legacy IT …
A month can be a long time in business. In July Sainsbury’s was given exclusivity in its bid talks for mutual grocery chain Nisa. But in August, the Co-op Group became the exclusive bidder. During those few weeks, Sainsbury’s grew increasingly concerned that a formal bid would be blocked by the Competition and Markets …