Read: The Co-op Group launches social mobility impact report

The Co-op Group, the UK’s largest consumer co-operative, launches a Levelling Up Impact Report with the Purpose Coalition, assessing its current impact on levelling up across the country and recommending further action for the future.

Founded in 1844, the Co-op is one of the oldest of three million cooperative organisations worldwide. With more than 4.2 million active members, it has a presence in every postal area in the country. Its operations span food, retail and wholesale, funeral provision, regulated consumer legal services, life planning and insurance products. Built on a set of values which include self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity, its core mission is to be a business which is fairer for its colleagues, fairer for its members and fairer for the planet. It champions a better way of doing business for individuals and communities across the country through its products and services which aim to create value in its broadest sense.

The Levelling Up Impact Report has been developed in partnership with the Purpose Coalition and benchmarks the Co-op’s work against an innovative set of 14 Levelling Up Goals. It identifies the areas where it is already making a positive impact and recommends further steps which would create further impact. Launched in 2021, the Goals provide a framework for organisations to identify gaps in access to opportunity, covering key life stages from early years to adulthood as well as the main areas where barriers exist that prevent people from achieving their potential, for example good health and wellbeing or digital connectivity. They also provide the means to monitor progress and share best practice.

The report highlights the Co-op’s key strengths which illustrate its commitment to delivering opportunity countrywide. It delivers across the full levelling up agenda but is making a significant impact across the following Goals:

• Goal 2 Successful school years

• Goal 3 Positive destinations post-16+

• Goal 4 Right advice and experiences

• Goal 8 Good health and wellbeing

• Goal 10 Closing the digital divide

• Goal 11 Infrastructure for opportunity

Examples of best practice include the schools in the Co-op’s multi-academy trust which are all guided by the same set of principles but are tailored to the needs of pupils in specific areas. Its Local Community Fund supports projects across the UK which its members believe will have the most impact in their community. Its extensive apprenticeship programme, linked into its supply chain, has facilitated over 700 opportunities worth an estimated £7m which have been matched with employers such as Royal Mail, Nationwide and Pertemps.

As well as highlighting these key strengths, the report makes a number of recommendations for further action where the Co-op can extend its work, building on its existing reputation and countrywide reach. It can use its position as a leading purpose-led company to set higher standards – on diversity and socio-economic reporting which could also be extended to its supply chain, on enabling a more effective transition from education to work, on the support of schools in social mobility cold spots and on the promotion of positive mental health and wellbeing and better physical health through healthier and sustainable diets.    

Shirine Khoury-Haq, Co-op Group CEO said:

“It is vital that business and government work in partnership to unlock the talent that exists everywhere. We must ensure everyone, whatever their background, has the opportunity to succeed in a way that is right for them. I’m delighted that the impact the Co-op is already having in communities has been recognised in this report but we also know there is much more the Co-op, and other businesses, should do.

I want the Co-op to be part of a movement for change and a catalyst for that change. That’s why we’re delighted to be working with This is Purpose, to lead by example and show how purpose-led businesses can pave the way.  I’m pleased to announce that the Co-op will join the new ‘Equality of Opportunity Coalition’ and we’ve already started work to explore what we can do to promote socio-economic diversity within the Co-op. We commit to share our insight and next steps in early 2023.”

Jim McMahon MP, Chair of the Co-operative Party and Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said:

 "As Chair of the Co-operative Party, I know the huge role the Co-op plays in tackling inequality, supporting aspiration and promoting opportunity across the country. I am delighted to welcome this report from the Purpose Coalition, measuring the Co-op's activity against the 14 Levelling Up Goals and setting out how it can go even further to boost social mobility and improve equality of opportunity." 

Chair of the APPG on the Future of Retail and MP for Stockton South, Matt Vickers said:

"As a former retail worker myself, I know huge role organisations like the Co-op - with a presence in almost every local community - can have on levelling up. Everybody should have access to opportunity, regardless of their background or which part of the country they are from, and today's report sets out how the Co-op is achieving that - and how it can go even further.”

Chair of the Purpose Coalition, Rt Hon Justine Greening, said: 

“I’m proud to launch this Levelling Up Impact Report with the Co-op Group. Making a positive impact and creating a fairer society is in its DNA and its sense of purpose shines clearly and brightly in everything it does. As the report shows, it is already doing outstanding work across the country but its extensive reach and brand recognition means that it has the potential to do even more and, crucially, set a gold standard for what it means to be a purpose-led business.

“The economic and social challenges that the country is currently facing – our recovery from the pandemic and the growing pressures of the cost of living crisis – means that the role it can play on delivering social good has never been more important. The Co-op gets to the heart of what matters most in a community. Its deep knowledge of those it serves enables it to understand what they really need to thrive and their local partnerships help to deliver it. The synergy between business and community is mutually beneficial - the Co-op can focus its efforts on those who need the most help and, in return, communities receive well-targeted and tailored support that is better placed to make a difference.

“Measuring an organisation’s progress on how it is levelling up is key. It’s how things get done. As a leading member of the Equality of Opportunity Coalition, the Co-op has committed to measuring and reporting the socio-economic background of their employees as part of its wider efforts to ensure that everyone has access to opportunity, regardless of background or where they are from. It is setting an example that I hope other businesses will follow and I am looking forward to working with its leadership team to help shape the levelling up agenda.”