Oldham’s Co-operative Community is here and ready

1. Oldham’s Co-operative Community is here and ready Liz Windsor-Welsh Voluntary Action Oldham

2. Introduction • Co-operative principles and the voluntary and community sector • Snapshot of Oldham’s VCF sector • Explore the window of opportunity • Structures that ‘lock in’ • Gearing up

3. Co-operative principles • People can join – and leave • Your voice will be heard • You control the capital • Together, you are independent • You can develop yourself and others • You can be more successful by co-operating with others who know how to cooperate • You can do something for your community even as you keep succeeding. Cooperatives UK Voluntary and community organisations - ‘community co-operatives’

4. What the community sector offers “additional benefits that the VCS [Voluntary Community Sector] may bring to service provision from the involvement of volunteers and donations and from the re-investment of surpluses. In such circumstances the extra welfare gain is wholly additional to the service provided under contract”. The Role of the Voluntary Sector in Service Delivery: A Cross Cutting Review, HM Treasury 2002

5. Oldham’s communities are active! • Size and scope different • Individual citizens – informal /formal volunteers, community activists, social action groups. • 100’s of small volunteer led groups • Voluntary orgs -small number of staff with many volunteers • Larger charities /not for profit orgs • Community businesses /co-operatives CIC’s

6. Oldham’s community sector • Employs 1765 staff approx 2% of Oldham’s workforce • Involves 16,900 volunteers per year, approximately 32,000 hrs of support valued at £16.7 million per annum. • Generates an annual income of £31.3 million that is invested in Oldham’s economy. • 550+ VCF organisations. • Approx half these organisations have no staff and rely entirely on voluntary effort. State of Sector Research, 2007

7. Coping with pressures • 50% will decrease the services they offer in the next 3 months • 50% are expecting to lose staff • 64% expect their financial position to deteriorate over next 12 months • 34% expect this to be worse than 50% of their funding • 74% expect an increase in service demand

8. Resilience and values • General situation (governance, workforce development, volunteers and staff) – 50% expect this to deteriorate in 12 months • 73% still here by end of 2012 • 68% want to collaborate more • 77% expect to be more involved in local action.

9. Window of opportunity • New opportunities for a ‘mixed economy’ of service provision • Increased social action and role for volunteers.

10. Is structure important? • Co-operatives, mutuals, charities and social enterprises… • Accountability, community ownership and social justice are key • Structure is the mechanism to ensure this is retained.

11. Gearing up • Develop consortia along service delivery pathways • Partnerships that retain values but provide greater collective influence and potential • New relationships (outside sector boundaries) • Space and right level of support for innovation and community led action.

12. In summary • Oldham’s communities are ready to play their part • Ambition for a ‘mixed economy’ provides new opportunities • Co-operative principles offer a framework that encourages risk sharing, retains accountability and local community ownership.