By the end of July 2020, we had 33 Full Council Members, 16 Associate Members (which included six Town and Parish Councils), 26 Affiliate Members and nine Supporters. An increase from 19 councils in 2017 to 57 councils and organisations in 2019 and 75 councils and organisations in 2020. Fourteen new members joined in the first three months of Lockdown. Co-operative Council Members (exc GMCA) represent 8.8m citizens and control a budget of £14b.
Despite an inability to meet in person since March 2020, the CCIN’s profile has continued to grow, and there has been a marked increase in interest in the valuable contribution that the Network’s Members are making to municipal policy development, particularly in a Post-Covid world.
Highlights include:
- A 350% increase in total Membership over the last three years
- Launch of our Dynamic Purchasing System comprising 18 provider organisations
- Funding of 14 bids for our 2020 Policy Prototype Projects on Health and Social Care
- 257 Case Studies on the Councils.coop website giving our members recognition with new audiences
- Bumper issues of our Winter 2019 and 2020 Case Studies Packs
- 105 delegates at our Annual Conference in Rochdale with speakers from all levels of government
- Exhibited at our first Lib Dem Conference and secured our first Lib Dem Council – Torbay
- Launch of ‘Coops Unleashed – as seen from the grassroots’ Policy Lab report which provides practical steps for councils to grow the co-operative economy
- Ran a conference promoting the Cities of Service model of social action to CCIN members
- Commissioned the Co-operative College to deliver an Induction Programme for the Network
- Launch of the online Members’ Forum
- Commissioned an Action Learning Set from Covid-19