Legal

Following the announcement of a Co-operatives Bill by Prime Minister David Cameron, the case for consolidating co-operative legislation is examined by Helen Barber, Head of Legal Services at Co-operatives UK . . . About co-operatives Co-operative enterprises are member owned businesses. There are 5,450 co-operative enterprises in the UK. The turnover of the co-operative sector now stands at £33 billion pa.  These enterprises are owned by 12.8 million members. There are ...

Co-operatives now enjoy exciting new opportunities in legislation which need to be explored by directors and executives.  This week saw reforms to co-operative, community benefit society, and credit union law. The changes were first proposed in 2007 and apply in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland. These changes add to the reform introduced in April 2011 to allow societies to communicate electronically with their members and with the FSA. The changes are summarised in ...

Britain’s co-operatives are set to benefit from credit union legislation that allow under-16s to become members and provide an opportunity to raise more capital. New powers for co-operatives and community benefit societies across England, Wales and Scotland in changes to the Credit Unions Act 1979 will abolish the limit on the value of non-withdrawable shares that are held in a society. In an article by legal writer Ian Snaith, which analyses the important points of the legislation, ...