We have begun to renew the Officer Support Handbook and you can find this, along with the latest information and guidance for officers in the Officer Hub here.

We still have a lot more to add to the Handbook but in the Officer Support Mailings from now on we will let you know what has been added or updated.

If there is a particular area of guidance you would like included in the Handbook, please let us know

At this time of year several Co-operative Societies open nominations for elections to their Boards and other elected bodies and committees.

Members of co-operatives are encouraged to engage with the democracy – to stand and to vote in elections and to attend the Member meetings, especially the Annual General Meeting.

Remind your members to check their emails for messages from their Co-operative about elections and Annual Meetings –  we know that these e-mails sometimes go into people’s spam boxes – and encourage them to take part.

Many co-operative societies hold their elections and AGMs at this time of year, but there are also other co-ops such as the Phone Co-op and local credit unions that need active members to support the work they do and their growth

If you have any questions about getting involved, do get in touch.

Branches and Party Councils have either just held or are about to hold their AGM’s, electing officers to lead the branch’s work and delegates to various bodies including each of the Constituency Labour Parties (CLP) in your area.

Please ensure that all eligible members are properly notified of  the AGM and have the opportunity to stand for these positions.

Important:  delegates to Labour Party CLPs, Local Campaign Forums, Regional Executives and Regional Conferences can only represent one organisation – if someone has already been nominated as a delegate from another body, such as their branch or Trade Union, you must elect a different member to be the Co-operative Party delegate.

You should have received our recent briefings for members and for councillors, outlining what you can do for Fairtrade fortnight.

Can you make your branch or Party Council meeting a Fairtrade event?  You can declare support for the Fairtrade movement, make your meeting open to people (the theme for the Fortnight), invite a speaker, provide tea, coffee cake and chocolate!  Many people who actively support Fairtrade are interested in co-operatives and political campaigning.  You can get a campaign pack from the Fairtrade Foundation – www.fairtrade.org.uk. You could also visit the Co-operative Group’s website to see how they are promoting Fairtrade here

One of our policy subjects this year is An economy where wealth and power are shared. This is ideal to debate in conjunction with fair trade.  You can see the consultation documents here

Please consider holding a joint event with your local Labour Party or offer to speak at the local branch or CLP on Fairtrade and the Co-operative Movement and the Co-operative Party’s support for Fairtrade.

Whatever you do do,  please tell us, take plenty of photos and tweet, Facebook or Instagram your activities!

If your Party Council or branches had a turnover (i.e. income or expenditure) of over £25,000 in 2017, you must send your annual accounts to the Electoral Commission by end of April 2018.

If youdo not receive a reminder from the Electoral Commission or are not sure how to do this, please contact Karen Wilkie.

Don’t forget that you have until June to discuss the two policy topics in your branch.  You can find all of the background information here

Look out for a special mailing soon, when we will announce the dates and venue for Annual Conference 2018 and open delegate registration.

If you have an event planned, make sure it is listed on the Party’s website at party.coop/events/submit

If you do this, we can also promote it on social media, increasing the number of people seeing it, and we can tag events by subject so that those members with a particular interest will be alerted.