We use our skills and expertise to influence political parties, government and regulators. We understand the importance of communicating the sector’s issues to policymakers.
You can find out more about our past advocacy work below, or learn about the All Party Parliamentary Group for Mutuals.
The Mutuals’ Redeemable and Deferred Shares Bill has achieved its Second Reading in the House of Lords. The Bill, brought forward by Lord Naseby, will now proceed to Committee Stage and Third Reading in the Lords before making its way to the House of Commons.
Read more Mutuals’ Redeemable and Deferred Shares Bill achieves Second Reading in Lords
Mutuo is exhibiting at the 2014 International Summit of Cooperatives being held in Quebec City from 6th-9th October.
Read more Mutuo at the International Summit of Cooperatives (6th-9th October)
The twin challenges of globalisation and regional regulation mean that co-operative and mutual firms are working more closely together to influence the business environment for the benefit of their members and the communities they serve. Mutuo is working with the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation to produce a global manifesto that will provide a framework for this activity.
Read more Mutuo working with ICMIF to produce global Manifesto
Mutuo has been commissioned by Australia’s Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM) to produce a mutual sector policy plan. Read more Mutuo commissioned to produce Australian co-operative and mutual sector policy plan
The Mutuals’ Redeemable & Deferred Shares Bill will be read for the second time in the House of Lords on 24th October 2014.
The Bill was introduced by Lord Naseby in the House of Lords and was read for the first time on 5th June 2014. We are seeking Government support to allow time for the Bill to progress through both Houses.
Read more Mutuals’ Bill scheduled for Second Reading (Lords)
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Mutuals has challenged the way that government and financial regulators work with mutuals.
The Group has called for a series of reforms that will enable building societies, friendly societies and mutual insurers to compete on a fair basis with PLCs.
AMICE, the European Association of Mutual Insurers and Insurance Cooperatives has published a political manifesto entitled “United in Diversity” laying out the sector’s proposal for political action to enable the sector to fully exploit its potential. The manifesto has been produced by UK based advocacy organisation, Mutuo, on behalf of AMICE members.
The European Mutual Manifesto was presented in Nice, France, by AMICE President Hilde Vernaillen to the 200 delegates at the association’s 2014 Congress.
Read more European Manifesto calls for action to empower mutual and cooperative insurers
The Mutuals’ Redeemable & Deferred Shares Bill 2014 was read for a first time today (June 5th) in the House of Lords.
A brief overview of why the Bill is needed and the solution it offers is set out below.
We need your help: contact your MP
The Mutuals Redeemable and Deferred Shares Bill will have its first reading on Thursday 5th June.
Use the form below to contact your MP to ensure that they help the Bill through Parliament by encouraging the Government to make time for debate.
Afterwards you will also be able to contact a Member of the House of Lords to ensure that they support the Bill too.
To contact to your MP, or a Member of the House of Lords, about the Bill, please click here.
Lord Myners is currently reviewing the governance structure of the Co-operative Group. This is not the first review – Mutuo contributed to such a project in 2007. Of course the context was different from today, but many of the key issues around co-operative business governance remain the same.
Today, Mutuo is re-publishing its report for the 2007 Review, called ‘21st Century Pioneers.’ It was drafted by a range of experts in co-operative business structures, including Cliff Mills, Ian Snaith, Peter Hunt and a range of academics.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Mutuals has called on the Government to take urgent action to improve the way that football club owners behave towards supporter groups.
In a report that is critical of the attitudes the Football Association, Premier League and Football League exhibit towards the ownership of clubs, MPs have called for them to be directed to protect the interests of supporters.
Read more Time to get tough on football authorities, say MPs
Mutuo has confirmed its presence at the International Summit of Cooperatives Exhibition to be held in Quebec in October 2014.
Mark Willetts said: “We are delighted to be attending the 2014 International Summit of Cooperatives. For us this is a unique opportunity to meet once again with some of the leading global businesses in the mutual and co-operative sector, to share ideas and strategies for growth. We are particularly pleased to be taking part in the international exhibition which promises to be even bigger and better than the 2012 Summit.”
Since 2008 when the Mutuals Yearbook was first published, the world around us has changed significantly. It is clear that all mutual organisations have endured a difficult economic climate in which to operate. Our members have had their own pressures and have had to face some searching questions about the soundness of the mutual model.
However, the sector has continued to grow both in terms of the numbers employed (970,000 in UK in 2013 compared to 844,000 in UK in 2008) and income (increasing from £84bn in 2008 to £115bn in 2013). These figures are a testament to the people who work in the mutual sector, but more importantly, to the fact that many people still uphold the principles of co-operation and mutuality. Read more Mutuals Yearbook 2013
The International Summit of Co-operatives is a biennial gathering where leaders of cooperative and mutualist enterprises get together to discuss their concerns about the current and future business challenges they all share.
The next summit is being held in Quebec City from October 6-9th & Mutuo will be taking part.
By their very nature, mutuals are limited in how they can raise capital. Like all businesses, they can retain profits and can borrow against future earnings, but they have no equity shareholders and so do not have access to this type of prime capital.
These restrictions are well known and mean that the debate around capital in mutuals is not new. To date however, in the UK at least, mutuals have not made significant alterations to their basic capital framework, which was designed more than 150 years ago.
Read more Raising New Capital in Mutuals: Taking Action in the UK
Tragedy. Disaster. Just two words that have been used to describe the recent events at the Co-operative Bank. Whilst the Treasury Select Committee continues its questioning of the Verde deal and the Kelly Inquiry deliberates on wider issues, the Bank’s ownership is changing, probably irrevocably. Read more Capital and The Co-operative Bank
Mutuo has will be holding fringe meetings at each of the three main Party Conferences this September/October.
The fringe meetings will discuss the possibility of amending the capital regime in mutuals to permit the injection of external capital, whilst safeguarding both the core purpose and mutual integrity of the business. We can point to existing examples of where this has been achieved in other countries such as Canada and The Netherlands.
We need your help: contact your MP
Use the form below to contact your MP to ensure that they help the Mutuals’ Redeemable Shares Bill through Parliament by encouraging the Government to make time for debate.
Afterwards you will also be able to contact a Member of the House of Lords to ensure that they support the Bill too.
To contact to your MP, or a Member of the House of Lords, about the Bill, please click here.
Parliament gives first reading to Lord Naseby’s Bill
The Bill, brought forward by the experienced Peer, Lord Naseby, was read for the first time in the House of Lords on Monday 22nd July. Read more Parliament to discuss new bill to raise new capital for mutuals
The Mutuals’ Redeemable Shares Bill would create a legal framework for shares to be issued in a range of mutuals, helping them to raise additional funds without undermining their mutual purpose.
Read more More information about the Mutuals’ Redeemable Shares Bill
The private equity threat to co-operatives and mutuals
Mutual, fan ownership in football
APPG for Mutuals new report: Inquiry into the planned demutualisation of LV=
Potential sale of LV= to Bain Capital
Measuring the Value of Mutuality
New report recognises the leadership and resilience of Australian co-ops and mutuals