Wales has Cwmpas, established in 1982 and the UK's largest co-op development agency, and Scotland has Co-operative Development Scotland inside Scottish Enterprise. England, with about 85 per cent of the UK population, has no publicly funded formation agency. Co-operatives UK is a membership federation rather than a funded delivery body, and the Community Shares Booster Fund made £248,000 of development grants in 2025. Government has pledged to double the mutual sector and appointed a mutuals champion, and no institution in England is tasked with forming new mutuals.
Doubling a sector requires a delivery arm. Formation of co-ops, community businesses and mutuals is advice-intensive, and the devolved nations show publicly funded development agencies work. England's absence is the largest institutional hole in the government's own mutuals agenda.
An England Co-operative Development Agency, arm's-length or franchised through mayoral combined authorities, funded through the Treasury mutuals strategy or dormant assets. It would offer formation advice, free model documents and finance brokerage, at £10-20m a year.
// Build together: Counterparty: a mayoral combined authority franchising a pilot regional co-op development agency ahead of Treasury or dormant-assets funding.
The devolved nations prove the delivery model, England has none, and the government's pledge to double the sector opens a policy window with no delivery arm.