5.5 Choosing your governing document
Your co-operative's governance – how it is organised – is determined by its governing document. This page sets out the model governing documents we hold for each type of co-operative legal form.
Co-operatives UK provides model rules or model governing documents for certain types of organisation. We give an overview of the key model rules below.
You can refer back to 5.3 to understand each type of co-op.
Co-operative Consortium
Relevant legal forms
- Company Limited by Guarantee
- Company Limited by Shares
- Co-operative Society
- LLP
Multi-stakeholder co-op
Relevant legal forms
- Company limited by guarantee
- Co-operative society
Worker co-op
Relevant legal forms
- Company limited by guarantee
- Company limited by shares
- Co-operative society
Community co-op
Relevant legal forms
- Community benefit society
- Charitable community benefit society
- Community interest company limited by guarantee
- Community interest company limited by shares
- Suitable if you are a group of people belonging to a particular community and wish to start a business that you will own and control.
- Your community can be geographical (for example, a village shop) or a community of interest (for example, a renewable energy co-op).
- A community co-operative will normally carry out activities that are of benefit to the whole community, or a large part of it.
We offer free model rules templates for a range of organisational types.
If the type of co-op or legal form you are hoping to register is not listed, please contact the advice team for advice.
Before using our model governing documents
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will only process registrations using Co-operatives UK model governing documents if our consent is provided.
We can only provide consent if you use our registration tool (step 6.1). If you have questions relating to the governing document in advance of registering your co-op, contact our advice team. By using our registration tool and service:
- We can ensure that the correct model rules are being used.
- Any changes made to model rules are in line with the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014
- That the society's application meets the conditions for registration.
Model governing documents
When registering a new co‑op you need governing documents. These are different depending on the legal form your co-op takes. We have a range of model rules available which you can use when registering via Co‑operatives UK – and that we can tailor specifically for your co‑op.
