Advice and information for co-operatives

Preston is supporting socially aware businesses by becoming a co-operative friendly city.

Councillor Matthew Brown, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Inclusion believes that:

" Co-operatives are a great way to promote economic inclusion and grow successful businesses".

Business Support for Co‑ops

From up to six days tailored support and mentoring, to digital tools and events we can help you to start or grow your co-op.

Co-operatives UK and The Co-operative Bank supporting fair and ethical business together.

Visit Co-Operatives UK - Business Support for Co-Ops

Co-operatives UK

Co-operatives UK is the national trade body that campaigns for co-operation and works to promote, develop and unite co-operative enterprises. It is a good source of information for those who want to understand what a co-operative is, assess how it might meet the needs of their business idea and identify the issues to be covered in any business plan.

The website also contains lots of useful information on establishing a co-operative, finance, business planning and other support. 

They have also produced a downloadable guide Starting a Co-operative (PDF, 748 KB) and a Simply legal (PDF, 1 MB) document which provides all you need to know about legal forms and organisational types for community enterprises.

Business Advice

Preston City Council has a business advice section and there is also a section on start up support for all businesses on the Invest Preston website.

New Economy Workshops

Co-operatives or members of the Preston Cooperative Development Network could get 25% discount off workshops from Stir to Action. They publish Stir to Action, a quarterly magazine on the new economy, run workshop programmes, and support community economic development.

If you are interested in attending a workshop please download the New Economy Workshops programme (PDF, 475 KB) or contact Emma Fancett, Marketing, emma@stirtoaction.com.