Worker Co-operative CICs (Community Interest Companies) - do we have a list? do you know any?
Nicholas Frealand
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Hi all,
I am one of 5 therapists setting up a Therapy Worker Cooperative enterprise in south east London and we are currently exploring business plan options.
In order to house our therapy practice, we aim to bid for premises from the council or other subsidised or more affordable sources.
Nearly all of us work individually in private practice to some degree and offer sessions at a 'sliding scale': financially resourced people paying a full fee and those with less or no means paying less or nothing.
Although we recognise that our coop's business plan doesn't have to choose one side of the scale or the other, there is a question in my mind about prioritisation and whether, if the consensus is that we prioritise offering low-fee or free therapy, we need to make funding and grants our primary income.
In this scenario, I am aware we could not be a charity but we could be a CIC so I wanted to check if there is a list of Worker Co-operative CICs or if there isn't, if people could shout out those worker-coop CICs they know so I can look into them and try to find which might serve as a good potential model for what we might expect (e.g. the potential consequences of giving up 'profit distribution').
I have been searching the threads here on Loomio and on https://forum.workers.coop/ and I have so far only identified the following:
Ipswich Bike Kitchen CIC
I also noticed some people who seem particularly knowledgable about this combination and so I am @-ing them - hope you don't mind:
@Dave Hollings
@Nathan Brown (Co-op Culture)
@Andrew Woodcock
@Mark Simmonds (Co-op Culture)
Douglas Racionzer Mon 10 Jun 2024 5:35AM
Hi
Get in touch with Principle Six and the Worker Coop Federation. In particular, speak with Sion Whellans or Caleb Elliot. There is also an educational Psychology worker cooperative, I helped set up that spent time considering some of these issues.
I would also be happy to advise as well.
Regards
Nicholas Frealand Sun 16 Jun 2024 9:10AM
@Douglas Racionzer Thanks for this. We have been very well supported by Sion for a while (I should probably have said).
It would be really useful to know the name of that educational Psychology worker cooperative - could it be this one? https://www.learningandwellbeing.org/
Or this one: https://www.beyond-psychology.co.uk/
I did find one in the north of England a few years ago but can't find a trace now - perhaps they closed.
In terms of advising, the next step for us is to select a Peer Mentor Coop that would be paid by the Cooperative UK business support programme, to provide us with start-up insight. I'm not sure if I should make a new thread to ask about how people have or would select their peer mentor, but if you have any advice, that would be appreciated.
Andrew Woodcock Mon 10 Jun 2024 7:40AM
I second what Adrian says, it is hard to marry the CIC regulators powers with the co-operative principles and I have never really found that grant funders prioritise the CIC form so there is no real advantage (you also can't advertise for loan stock). It is a sort of halfway house without the advantages of either side
Billy Smith Tue 11 Jun 2024 7:56AM
Another group worth asking these questions to, is CoTech.
https://www.coops.tech/
Yes, they are working in a different industry sector to the therapy practice that you want to set up, but they were working with Islington Council on helping local groups set up co-operatives in 2022, so will have more recent knowledge of the practical details. :D
https://cooperateislington.com/
The background work that they did, in terms of legal research, may answer more of your questions. :D
Irena P Wed 19 Jun 2024 8:51AM
@Nicholas Frealand Beyond Psychology are in the process of closing unfortunately.
Brighton-based Psychology Co-op really interesting https://thepsychologycooperative.com/
Big player in Bolton 1point North (working with local authorities) https://www.1pointbolton.org.uk/
Also Oxford based children's counselling services Phoenix Co-op (worker co-op) https://www.phoenixcoop.co.uk/
Also try a word search in our web listing directory for more eg: psychotherapy or counselling
Nathan Brown (Co-op Culture) Tue 25 Jun 2024 4:02PM
If you are after grants, then a worker co-op Co Ltd by Guarantee (CLG) with charitable objects will probably suffice. I always recommend people research the specific funders they are interested in to get a feel if they are going to be grant reliant. If you are a CLG it is possible to amend your governing document to become a CIC in future but you can't revert from a CIC to "ordinary" CLG so I always say that if you are in doubt, opt for a CLG.
Nicholas Frealand · Sun 16 Jun 2024 12:41AM
@John Atherton Thanks for this, am going to experiment with the map search as we are also looking for a Peer Mentor Coop as part of Cooperative UK business support.
In terms of posting here, I was already on Loomio for our coop, so this is a quicker transition.
It definitely doesn't feel at all dead to me here, and I've actually got more engagement here than on workers.coop. But regardless, I will continue to cross-post, and hopefully that won't annoy anyone...