Presentation to COBS 2 European Partners, June 2015

Gareth Nash of Co-operative and Mutual Solutions

‘It’s grim up north’

It’s always raining

It’s full of derelict buildings

It’s a concrete nightmare

Art and Culture are hard to find

We don’t get excited about anything

Poor phone reception

Vandals everywhere

The locals won’t look you in the eye

Structure of presentation

• A little about Co-operative and Mutual Solutions (CMS)

• Co-operative and Mutual Solutions, Creativity for Change and Ex-Cell’s historical work in Criminal justice

• Current and future joint work

• More about the programme: 8-10 June

Co-operative and Mutual Solutions (CMS)

Co-operative and Mutual Solutions

• Worker co-operative based in North West England,• 3 member/directors• Trading for 13 years• Specialists in co-operative and social enterprise

development and support• Able to assist the development of different types and at

different stages • Collaborated with Ex-Cell since 2010 and with Creativity for

Change since 2012

What we do

• We are a worker co-operative consultancy which has traded for 13 years• We provide advice, support and training to co-operatives and social enterprises:

legal and governance, business planning, finance raising, systems• We have managed large multi-year projects on behalf of the public and co-op

sector• Our specialisms:

– Community share issues/social investment– Co-operative consortia– Community and worker buyouts– Multi-stakeholder co-operatives– Mutualisation: public services– Through the prison gate support: training, employment, self employment and co-operative self-

employment for ex-offenders

Social Investment with a difference

• Community Shares– Community investment involves members of a community buying shares in an

enterprise that serves a community purpose– It empowers communities by giving members (as part owners) a say in the direction

of the community enterprise– Is a new way of financing community ventures in addition to grants/donations/loans– Reflects changing public attitudes: a move from ‘fundraising’ to ‘investment’– Unique features of A Co-operative or a Community Benefit Society:

• Withdrawable shares • One member, one vote democracy• Flexible cap on returns• Upper limit on personal shareholding (£100,000)• Withdrawable shares exempt from the financial promotions regulations

Total Community Share issues by year

2002 2003 2004 2005 2007 2009 2010 2011 2012 20130

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Key Markets for Community Shares

Food and farming6%

Renewable energy47%Community shop and

other retail22%

Pubs and brewing16%

Regeneration and Land 6%6% Sports 3%

Co-operative and Mutual Solutions, Creativity for Change and Ex-Cell’s historical work in Criminal

justice

Joint work in Criminal Justice

Creativity For Change

Recoop and

Restore

Ex-Cell, Dave

NicholsonThe Ideas

Mine

Co-operative andMutual Solutions

Historical work

• Review of Prison Industries (2011/12):– A number of workshops across prisons in England and Wales– Undertake printing, office furniture manufacture, laundry, engineering, textiles,

clothing/upholstery, woodwork…..– Approx 10,000 prisoners out of 85,000 ‘worked’

• Recommendations:– Core purpose: rehabilitation/reducing reoffending– Restructure as a Work Integration Social Enterprise (WISE) or Social Firm– Involve Prison Governors in governance and sharing rewards of the industry

success– Devolving power to prisons locally

Historical work

• Assisting the development of:– through the prison gate employment, self employment, co-operatives and

social enterprises– co-operatives and social enterprises run by and for ex-offenders

• By:– Self-employment/business courses run in prison and in the community– Business mentoring, advice and support– Brokering relationships with co-operatives including The Co-operative

(large consumer society) for employment of ex-offenders– Undertaking feasibility work on potential opportunities: housing renovation,

horticulture

Historical work

• Assisting spin outs from probation, mutualisation of prisons, probation– Supported Ubique Partnerships in its transfer from Probation into a social enterprise,

www.ubiquepartnerships.com– Supported Kent, Surrey and Sussex Probation services, Co-HERE (as part of a wider

team of professionals: legal, constitutional, financial) during the ‘Transforming Rehabilitation’ competition

– Co-designed/produced a multi-stakeholder mutual with a range of stakeholders: staff, ex-offenders, victims, families

– CO-HERE and its joint venture partner withdrew from the competition as they believed the contract terms to be unviable

– We received an enquiry from a prison dealing with sex offenders which was interested in exploring mutualisation. It was prevented from progressing by The Cabinet Office

The philosophical basis

• Our work has not been and is not exclusively about developing co-operatives BUT we are interested in:

– A specifically co-operative and mutual approach to offender rehabilitation, employment and resettlement

– Co-operatives, mutuals and the synergy with desistance research– Co-operatives of ex-offenders providing services to ex-offenders– Developing multi-stakeholder mutuals involving staff, service users and other

stakeholders as owners– The development of Offender/ex-offender friendly societies OR prisoner run Prisoner

Aid Societies

The current environment

• Majority Tory Government!– More austerity and cuts– Public sector budgets under increasing pressure– Ministry of Justice: more for less– Small older prisons closing, large private sector prisons to thrive– Fewer prison staff– Complete reorganisation (privatisation) of probation services over the

last 18 months

Our situation and response

• We are all market driven• CMS and Creativity for Change have secured other work• No opportunities to secure rehabilitation work through the

transformation window (probation reorganisation), only mutualisation work

• We have sought other funding/contracts to undertake our criminal justice activities both for isolated projects and for long term programmes

Current Work, Plans, Ideas and Opportunities

• Prison Horticulture– We have worked with a project called Greener on the outside of Prisons (GOOP)– Plans to make it ‘sustainable’, viable, create ‘meaningful work’ for offender/ex-

offenders– ‘commercialise’ the operations and establish links with catering establishments– Collectivise the culture and operations

• Community Farms/growing– CMS and partners have funding to establish a hydroponic growing pilot project

for ex-offenders with substance misuse issues

Current Work, Plans, Ideas and Opportunities

• Community Farms/growing– CMS and partners are seeking funding to establish a mushroom growing pilot

project for ex-offenders– We are working with Green Shoots, a social enterprise food producer based in

the South West: http://greenshootsassociates.co.uk/– Currently Green Shoots is growing mushrooms in Dartmoor prison and has

links to The Boston Tea Party, a chain of coffee shops– CMS and partners are in discussion with Preston prison in the North West

Grow your own oyster mushrooms

Mixed at the Prison Delivered to peoples homes

Current Work, Plans, Ideas and Opportunities

• Secure longer term funding/contracts:– New relationships and collaborations– Promote self-employment, co-operatives and social enterprise– Deliver more Mind Your Own Business courses across North West and

North East– Undertake through the prison gate business mentoring and support

Current Work, Plans, Ideas and Opportunities

• Follow up on a feasibility study we have undertaken on housing renovation– Lots of empty homes in Liverpool, Manchester and Lancashire– CMS and partners have undertaken a feasibility study with a view to establishing a

multi-stakeholder co-operative– This will employ and train ex-offenders renovating these houses some for sale and

some for rent– People who have worked on the houses will get the opportunity of a discount:

homesteading– We are aware of 3 similar schemes:

• Bristol Together• Midlands Together• Friends, Jobs Homes

More about the next 2 days

TodayTime Activity and organisation9.30am Meet at the hotel reception10am Tea/coffee10:30am – 11am: Bruntwood Meeting Rooms, Centurion House, 129 Deansgate, M3 3WR Room 4+5

Welcome and intro from CMS

11.00am-11:45am Intro about Being Heard Being Seen course and Mind Your Own Business course, Val Monti-Holland

11.45am – 12.15pm Coffee Break12.15pm –12:45pm Transfer to The Mustard Tree 13.00pm – 13.30pm Lunch @ The Mustard Tree 110 Oldham Road, Ancoats, Manchester M4

6AG13.30pm – 14.00pm Tour and talk from Graham Hudson, Mustard Tree14.00pm – 14:30pm Eileen Fenerty-Lyons (NW Public Sector Prisons)15.15pm – 16.00pm Manchester College: Dave Morgan, Gary Spann.16.00pm – 16.15pm Coffee Break16.15pm – 16.45pm Kitchen Porter Programme and Refarming: Jules Bagnoli16.45pm – 17.00pm Q&A18.45pm Meet for Dinner19.30pm Dinner at Pie Ministry, 3 Church Street, M4 1PD

0161 819 1279

Tomorrow

9.45am Pick up at Hotel

10.30am to midday Visit to HMP Styal, Wilmslow, Cheshire East SK9 4HR

12.30pm – 13.30pm Lunch at the CLINK restaurant,

14:00pm Bus pick up

14.30pm Back in Manchester

14.45pm – 17.00pm John Sargent – North East Enterprise PrisonsGareth – Older offenders

18.45pm Meet for Dinner

19.30pm Wagamama’s - 1 The Printworks. Corporation street, ManchesterM4 2BS