The findings of new academic research reveal that co-operatively owned and run adult social care providers emphasise empowering service users, paying and treating workers fairly and keeping wealth within local communities, unlike many profit-driven private companies providing social care.

Social Care Co-operatives in the UK was commissioned by Co-operatives UK and Cwmpas and produced by the Centre for Care, the Centre for Adult Social Care Research (CARE), and supported by IMPACT.

It examines the advantages of co‑operatives and how reforming commissioning and building partnerships can support their growth to provide fairer, better quality, community-rooted care.

Co-operatives are businesses owned and controlled by their members, such as workers, customers or the people who use their services. Instead of prioritising returns for distant shareholders, they are run to meet members’ needs and create value for the communities they serve.

The findings of Social Care Co-operatives in the UK build on earlier work from Reclaiming Our Regional Economies (RORE), a partnership of organisations including Co-operatives UK.

RORE’s 2025 report, Ending Extraction in the UK Care System, examined social care provision in the North East, South Yorkshire and West Midlands combined authority regions between 2021 and 2024. It found that private care companies operating in those regions made £256m in profit over three years, with more than a third owned by private equity firms, companies based in tax havens, or both.

The report also found that £45m was paid out in dividends to shareholders, while frontline care workers were often paid below the living wage – a contributing factor to the current social care crisis, with under-paid, overworked staff and the knock-on effect this has on the quality of care.

Read the full article from Co-operatives UK

Read the findings and recommendations: Social Care Co-operatives in the UK