About this site

This site is published independently by members of the Greater Manchester Co-operative Commission.

The Commission was created by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and launched by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham.

The views on this site are the views of Commissioners and not necessarily those of GMCA or Andy Burnham.

About the Commissioners

You can read about the commissioners here.

About the Commission

The Commission was formally established in February 2019 and was tasked with making evidence-based policy proposals for how Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) can support co-op development in three sectors: housing, the digital economy and transport, all chosen because of their fit with the Greater Manchester Strategy. The Commission was also given a fourth cross-cutting focus, on what GMCA can do to enhance support for co-operative business development in Greater Manchester.

The Commission published its report in January 2020, when Mayor Andy Burnham welcomed the Commission report and its recommendations, commenting that he would like to implement all of them. He also invited the Commissioners to continue to meet and to act as an implementation group to assist GMCA in bringing the recommendations to fruition.

Following the outbreak of the pandemic and the Mayor’s launch of Build Back Better, Greater Manchester’s response to coronavirus, the Commission has been working with GMCA to ensure that the every opportunity is taken to find co-operative and collaborative solutions to the many challenges faced. The outpouring of community and citizen-based mutual support and the spontaneous collaboration by many businesses and institutions during the crisis have demonstrated the significance of co-operation and the contribution it can make.

As part of this work the Commission has made a detailed response 'Building Back Better - a Cooperative Recovery', which you can download and read here

The Commission promotes co-operatives to reduce inequality, improve education and employment. Our aim is to help co-operatives expand into other areas of the economy to make Greater Manchester the most co-operative region in the UK.