Co-operative Group Reform Proposals: SGM 30.08.14

The UK Co-operative Group has published its proposed governance reforms and called its Special General Meeting for 30th August 2014. You can see the press release about the proposals here. The full rules including all the amendments intended to achieve the Governance Reforms [as at 05.06.2015. when this post was amended to replace a broken link] can be found here.

Through DWF LLP, I have worked as a consultant with the Group’s Steering Committee on developing these proposals. A paper explaining why I support them is being circulated to active members as part of the information pack being sent out. You can read or download my paper here.

The process of developing these reforms has not been easy for anyone but they are essential for the future of the Group. I am convinced that these changes will remedy the governance flaws which were in large part responsible for the recent commercial disasters. They also retain and guarantee the continued co-operative identity of the Group, give an enhanced role for ordinary members and maintain and expand member engagement between general meetings and elections through the Council.

We must all hope that the delegates who vote on 30th August grasp this opportunity for change and improvement so as to draw a line under the turbulence of recent years and open up new opportunities for the biggest UK consumer co-operative and its 90,000 employees.

© Ian Snaith 2014 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.