Midlands Co-op Member Relations

about us

Who are we?

Midlands Co-operative Society Limited - or Midlands Co-op as it is better known - is the second largest independent retail Society in the UK.

It is important that you understand a little of our history. In 1960 there were around 950 retail Societies in the UK: today there are less than 40. The rest merged to form larger Societies. Midlands Co-op owes its existence to mergers with 65 other Societies, the most recent of which were in 1995, when Central Midlands Co-operative Society Limited merged with Leicestershire Co-operative Society Limited, in 2001, when Chesterfield and District Co-operative Society Limited merged and 2006 when Desborough Industrial Society and Ilkeston Consumer Co-operative merged with us. This integration of Societies explains our complex geographical trading map.

Today, Midlands Co-op is a modern, forward-looking organisation employing some 7,600 staff and with gross sales in excess of £749 Million. Our principal areas of activity are Retail – food and non-food; Travel; Funeral Services, and Transport. We also have a substantial investment property portfolio.

Although we trade principally in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and the Greater Midlands, we also have trading outlets in Herefordshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire! At the time of publication we have over 400 trading outlets, ranging from superstores to convenience stores, supermarkets, department stores, travel shops, funeral homes, garages, post offices and petrol stations.

Providing management and support for our operational activities is the Business Support Centre, located in Lichfield in Staffordshire.

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What sets us apart from our competitors?

Let’s begin by explaining what a co-operative is. The accepted definition of a co-operative is ‘an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs’. Whilst organised co-operation is probably as old as mankind, it was the Rochdale Pioneers who set up their successful retail co-operative back in 1844, and gave us the basis for Co-operative Values and Principles that co-operatives worldwide sign up to today.

It is these Co-operative Values and Principles that set us apart from other businesses.

The Co-operative Values that we subscribe to are:

  • Self-help and Self-Responsibility
  • Democracy and Equality
  • Equity and Solidarity

Then there are the Co-operative Ethical Values that co-operators across the world believe in:

  • Honesty
  • Openness
  • Social responsibility
  • Caring for others

The Co-operative Principles that we adopt are:

  • Voluntary and open membership
  • Democratic member control
  • Member economic participation
  • Autonomy and independence
  • Education, training and information
  • Co-operation among co-operatives
  • Concern for the Community

Here at Midlands Co-op, we have adopted our own set of values, that enable us to put our vision of ‘Making a difference’ into practice:

  • Supporting out Co-operative Society
  • Recognising effort and achievement
  • Success
  • Openness and honesty
  • Continually improving
  • Customer focus

But what does all this mean in practice? The chart below illustrates the difference between Midlands Co-op and a competitor company:

Differences between Midlands Co-op and its Competitors
  Midlands Co-op Competitor
Profits Our members share in Midlands Co-op trading profit through the payment of a biannual dividend Investors/shareholders share in company's profits
Control Each member has one vote. Members can exercise their democratic rights twice a year at Members' and Interim Members' meetings One vote per share. A major shareholder can influence the direction of a company far more than a small shareholder
Ownership Our business is owned by our Members Investors own a company
Distribution The amount of Dividend a member receives, relates to spend value in a given period This depends of the number of shares an investor holds
Share Value £1 value remains the same Varies with Stock Exchange
Shares Members' shares are withdrawable Investors' shares are tradeable
Community Involvement This is fundamental to our principles Varies from company to company

In addition to distributing a share of our profits to our Members, we also, through our Stakeholder Strategy, distribute a share of our profits to our employees and to the communities we trade in. Through sponsorship, donations and our Community Dividend Fund, we have given hundreds of thousands of pounds back to our communities and have, over the years, benefited many thousands of charities and good causes.

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Relationship with other Co-operative Societies

You may have seen shops owned by other Co-operative Societies, such as United, Heart of England, and West Midlands. Each of these Societies operates as a business in its own right. However, we do work together with other Societies to buy our food through the Co-operative Retail Trading Group (CRTG); we purchase our travel needs through the Co-operative Travel Trading Group (CTTG), and are members of the National Association of Funeral Directors. This provides us with economies of scale and the purchasing power of much larger companies. Our membership of the CRTG also enables us to benefit from very clear labelling on our goods, sound sourcing policies, and ethical and fair trading policies.

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Management and democracy at Midlands Co-op

A Board of non-executive Directors appoints the Society’s Chief Executive. A democratically appointed President chairs the Board. The Chief Executive’s senior management team comprises the Society Secretary and General Managers responsible for Retail, Shared Services (Finance and IT), Travel, Funeral, Property and Transport, Service Excellence and Corporate Affairs.

See our social responsibility website here.

Map to Business Support Centre, Lichfield

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Copyright Statement

The content (content being images, text, sound and video files, programs and scripts) of this website is the property and copyright © of Midlands Co-operative Society Limited (MCS), which carries on business in the United Kingdom as Midlands Co-op, Midlands Co-op Retail, Midlands Co-op Travel, Midlands Co-op Funeral Services, Midlands Co-op Property & Transport, and Midlands Co-op Member Relations and other trading names. All rights expressly reserved.

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Use of the website

The content of this website can be accessed, printed and downloaded in an unaltered form (unaltered including being stretched, compressed, coloured or altered in any way so as to distort content from its original proportions or format) with copyright acknowledged, on a temporary basis for personal study, which is not for a direct or indirect commercial use and any non-commercial use.

Any content printed or downloaded may not be sold, licensed, transferred, copied or reproduced in whole or in part in any manner or in or on any media to any person without the prior written consent of Midlands Co-operative Society Limited.

Please use the Contact Us Page if you wish to request permission to reproduce material from this website, or if you wish to create hyperlinks to this website from your website.

Any use of this website not expressly permitted in this copyright statement is strictly prohibited and will constitute an infringement of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of Midlands Co-operative Society Limited.

Disclaimer

Midlands Co-operative Society Ltd (MCS) has taken the greatest of care to ensure the accuracy of the contents of this website, but cannot accept responsibility for any inaccuracies, omissions, or errors in respect of the information provided.

Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of MCS. We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.

Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, MCS takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.

Permission must be obtained from MCS to use any information, including images, available on this website.

Last updated April 2007.

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