The Midcounties Co-operative Celebrates Improving Responsible Business Score

The Midcounties Co-operative has been recognised for its continual focus on being a responsible business, whether that be looking to reduce its carbon footprint or help young people in to work.

Each year, the Society takes part in the Business in the Community’s (BITC) annual responsible tracker and has improved its score from an impressive 81% last year, to an exemplary 87% in 2024. The tracker measures the overall performance of businesses against the global sustainable development goals and this score has been achieved by Midcounties through strong and transparent governance, continual engagement with members and responsible actions.

The positive impact the Society has had within the communities it serves has continued to increase in the past year, with the Fairer Futures programme being a stand-out achievement. The scheme, launched in collaboration by Birmingham social enterprise Miss Macaroon, looks to tackle the barriers to employment for young job seekers and so far, has successfully place 18 young people into work in its first year. Alongside this, members of the Society have helped to raise over £74,000 for 13 new charity partners, including Gloucestershire Deaf Awareness and Black Country Women’s Aid. Colleagues, too, have been giving back with more than 21,000 hours donated to causes throughout the last year.

The Midcounties Co-operative has also been recognised for its sustainability impact, with its direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions being reduced by 32% compared to 2019 levels, as the Society moves towards its goal of reducing by 40% by January 2026. Furthermore, the Society’s GHG reduction targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which also examines the more complex indirect emissions associated with products and services, covering the Society’s supply chains as well.

The Society has also recently partnered with Big Solar Co-op which will be helping to install solar panels across 29 Midcounties Co-operative food, travel, Childcare and Head Office sites.

Pete Westall, chief values officer for The Midcounties Co-operative, said: “The BITC responsible business tracker is an important benchmark for how we measure our performance across all areas of the Society and so to be recognised with yet another high score this year shows we are taking the right approach.

In everything we do, we are always consulting with our members to understand what more action to take to do good together whether that’s going further to have a positive environmental impact, or helping more young people into work. We will continue to work with our members, colleagues and partners to make further improvement into next year and beyond.”

Harriet Walker, Advisory and Member Services Director, Business in the Community, said: “Businesses understand that being responsible is not only the right thing to do, but it also has clear benefits, such as access to wider talent pools and increased customer loyalty. The Midcounties Co-operative has made impressive strides in this area, and BITC looks forward to supporting the organisation as it continues to grow responsibly.”

The Midcounties Co-op is fully owned by its 700,000 members and operates the Your Co-op family of businesses, including more than 230 Your Co-op Food stores across the West Midlands, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. They also trade nationally through its Your Co-op Travel, Your Co-op Childcare, Your Co-op Energy and Your Co-op Broadband and Mobile businesses.

Every time a member shops or chooses a service, the Society also give backs to the community – from buying a pint of milk to booking a holiday, doing good together. To join Your Co-op as a member or for more information, please visit the website here.