One of the UK’s leading pathways into co-op development work is being paused due to a lack of investment in education and quality co-operative development roles.
Barefoot Co-op Development Training programme has been running since 2020, when the first pilot was delivered during the pandemic.
Since then, well over 100 alumni have acquired the skills they need to work as advisors from the team at Co-op Culture, specialists in the sector with many years of experience growing co-ops and community businesses. Their six-month programme covers everything from governance and legal structures to finance, community business models, frameworks for advisory work, peer learning and practitioner networks.
In 2023, national co-op infrastructure body Stir to Action took over Barefoot’s management and administration, handling applications, communications and funding sustainability. But the latest Barefoot cohort – which was scheduled to start in April – has now been postponed with no new start date on the horizon.
Specialist advisor Suzanne Orchard, co-lead at Stir to Action, has over 15 years’ experience in the sector and says the root problem is a lack of funding to the co-operative development sector as a whole.
“The problem is not new; it is something which has been encroaching slowly but surely,” she says. “Barefoot training is understood and well respected. There is a need and demand, but without funding and support from the co-op sector and other bodies like local government, there simply are not enough jobs for trained alumni to go into.”
The movement mustn’t lose its skills and experience around advisory work, she says, but acknowledges there is no point in training people if they cannot afford to apply those skills.
“Co-op development needs to be paying and viable rather than precarious. If we want to double the size of the co-op economy, it needs to be partly done by people who understand co-ops.”
Meanwhile, there is frustration that education about the co-op movement and associated forms of democratic ownership is limited, with a corresponding impact on career opportunities.
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“Co-ops are still not mainstream enough,” warns Orchard, “and in order for jobs to be created, education about them has to be optimised as that’s where the potential is.”
She points to the past successes of government-funded Co-operative Development Scotland in raising awareness of co-operative business models at a national level.
“That’s what the establishment of something at the national level does,” she says. “It makes people stop and think, ‘this is a priority’.”
Founded in 2012, worker co-op Stir to Action continues to thrive thanks to its national programme of workshops, training and consultancy as well as in partnership programmes with influential organisations such as Power to Change and Co-operatives UK. It also works with progressive councils in Preston, Oldham and Islington – although these may also be under threat if right-wing parties succeed in local UK elections in May.
“We remain supportive of the Barefoot training programme,” says Orchard, “and have the systems and knowledge in place to restart if something substantial changes, if better institutional support is received, but this does not address the wider sector entry problem.
“Even the existing advisor base is struggling to find work at the moment, such is the state of the co-op development sector.
“But, as people retire, we need a new wave of practitioners. There is also a bigger potential crisis further down the line as there are just not the paid-for roles for new trainees to go into.”
Orchard is clear that there are still grounds for optimism. In its six years of existence, Barefoot has trained well over a hundred graduates with some positive success stories. They include the globally ambitious Principle 6 Co-operative, Co-operate Scotland, and two Hebden Bridge co-ops – HR and governance specialists People Support and co-op development supporter 241 Co-operators. But these, for now, are a minority.
“Interest in this area remains,” says Orchard. “However, the true reality is that, because of the precariousness of the sector, people are staying put in their original posts or careers because it’s not financially sensible to make the leap as it is so underfunded.
“Barefoot has been largely funded by those accessing the course, and very occasionally a larger organisation will sponsor a place for about £1000. But the number of people asking for sponsorship of 50-100%% has increased, and the funding just isn’t there, so we have had to put the programme into a period of dormancy until something changes.”
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Orchard is adamant that this difficult situation will only be improved if the co-operative development sector as a whole is properly funded by national and local government – and by the wider co-op movement, which, she says, is not doing all it could.
“Over the years, we have reached out to the co-op sector,” she adds, “but not with much success. A big percentage of it is the big societies, but how aware are most of them of Barefoot? They are a bit removed from the grassroots. Meanwhile, local authorities are short of money and are ring-fencing budgets to focus on job creation.”
Last year, the organisation sent a two-page budget request via Co-operatives UK, which fed into the government spending review. Within that, it highlighted three different funding options from £25,000 to fund 20 individuals each year to £80,000 for a double cohort in September and April.
“Nothing came of this,” says Orchard. “The problem isn’t just that Barefoot isn’t being funded; that’s just a knock-on effect. It’s about the overall state of the co-op development sector. We need wider funding, whether that’s through local authorities or institutions, hiring people or working directly on the ground for co-op creation.
“We can do more around campaigning and education, but it’s all about budget, and the government minimises the number of people who can play a role. There are established mechanisms for assessing and allocating support, so we already have the methodology, just insufficient resources.”
Orchard adds that all of this “feels strange against a backdrop of doubling the sector, because there is no money in the sector to double it”. And while there are some ambitious plans, “we first need to stabilise it and fund it”.
“Barefoot has been a much-respected course and resource,” she says. “The knowledge and skills infrastructure is all in place to restart at the drop of a hat, but that will only happen if something changes around funding.”
James Wright, policy and development lead at Co-operatives UK, says funding for co-op development is a top priority for the organisation. “We put it at the heart of our Co-operative Growth Strategy, Policy Plan for Growth, 2024 Spending Review submission and response to the recent Department of Business and Trade Call for Evidence,” he adds. “We fully expect the government to come forward with some funding solutions for co-op development in 2026. If they don’t, we cannot expect the sector to grow quickly. We are making this the key talking point in all our meetings with ministers and senior officials.”
Noting “a debate in the co-op development community right now about prioritisation”, he says: “There is not enough funding and work to support the existing pool of advisors, and not enough opportunities for the existing Barefoot alumni to get work and build their experience. So the general view is that the priority has to be funding for co-op development, for demand stimulation and CPD for existing advisors, then, if demand really picks up, funding for training new specialists.
“We do need to be looking ahead to this last point though, as any significant uptick in demand (driven by the Local Power Plan or Pride in Place for example) will soon outstrip the supply of quality, experienced advice.”
