co-operatives national law

The Co-operative Group, trading as the Co-op, is a British consumer co-operative with a diverse family of retail businesses including food retail and wholesale; e-pharmacy; insurance services; legal services and funeralcare, with in excess of 3,600 locations. It is the largest consumer co-operative in the UK and owned by more than 4.6 million active members. Membership is open to everyone, provided they agree to subscribe £1 sterling in the capital of the society and share the values & principles upon which the group was founded. Members are democratically involved in setting business strategy, decide how social goals are achieved, and share in its profits – in 2018, £79m was returned to members and their chosen local community causes via the 5+1 scheme. The Group also owed £792m to its lenders.The Co-operative Group has over 63,000 employees across the UK. The group has its headquarters in One Angel Square, one of the most sustainable large buildings in Europe in NOMA Manchester. In 2013, the Group raised £142m through a sale and leaseback of the building to institutional investors in a 25 year lease to 2038.The Group also manages the Co-operative Federal Trading Services, formerly the Co-operative Retail Trading Group (CRTG), which sources and promotes goods for food stores of the co-operative movements of the UK. It introduced the Co-operative brand in 2007, which is used by many consumers' co-operatives in the UK and managed by the group. It replaced this for its own businesses with a revitalised version of its late 1960s "Co-op" logo in 2016.The business has long established itself as an ethical retailer, allowing women the same democratic rights within the society as men since its founding and was the first major UK retailer to champion Fairtrade. The Co-operative Group has also pioneered a number of other initiatives which are now commonplace, including providing easily interpretable nutritional information on its own brand food, raising animal welfare standards, installing their own renewable energy generation and investing significantly in community projects (1% of members' own-brand spend goes to a local cause of their choice). It has held the Fair Tax Mark since 2015.

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