Co‑operatives^UK believes that when a business owner retires or wishes to move on, the employees should be given the opportunity to buy the business and convert it into a democratically owned and managed enterprise. There are many examples of successful employee owned businesses that were born from this process and we want to see this happen more and more.

With our members and partners we are working hard to make the option better known, ensure the specialist skills are available to support the process, and influence the policy environment.

We established and service a group of professionals and practitioners - the Delivering Employee Ownership Network - to share information and skills, to lobby government and to carry out joint work.

The network comprises development workers, trainers, lawyers, finance experts and practitioners. It is very much a working group, the common thread being a commitment to employee ownership. The network has already been successful in opening Westminster's eyes to the opportunities and is pushing for more support for the sector from the regions and from the devolved administrations.

The network meets four times a year, currently in London and Manchester, and would be open to meeting elsewhere too. The next meeting is on 16 September in Manchester.

If you would like to get involved, please contact Helen Seymour.

Download our policy paper 'Employee Ownership as a Solution to Business Succession'.
Download our booklet on employee buyouts and business succession.
There's also more on this issue at www.business-succession.coop

This page is maintained by Graham Mitchell and was last updated on 25/4/2006.
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