The next UK Future Co-ops conference has been confirmed for February, with a focus on how collective action and co-operatives can “deliver real power at a local level” against the backdrop of rising far-right agitation.
Held in Birmingham from Friday 27 to Saturday 28 February, the conference is organised by co-op development agency Co-operative Futures.
The Friday evening will feature discussions, short films, entertainment, and a group dinner for delegates at not-for-profit pub the Good Intent.
The main conference sessions will run the following day at the Priory Rooms in Birmingham city centre. Workshops “will explore practical ways communities can build power” through citizens’ juries and assemblies and counter “far-right narratives of division”.
Group discussions and debates will examine everything from political alliances to the climate emergency.
There’s no word yet on a lineup, but the 2025 event covered everything from growing the co-operative economy to engaging young people in the co-op movement.
A press release from Co-operative Futures said the 2026 event “will bring together co-operative activists, policy thinkers, campaigners and community business leaders to explore how collective action, co-operation, and democratic participation can restore trust, and revitalise communities. It will be a space for practical ideas and political imagination rooted firmly in co-operative values”.
Tickets and more information about the 2026 Future Co-ops conference are available here.
