Nicky Evans: Why we are asking people to invest in interpreting co-op Signalise

What is a Co-operative and why do people invest?

You may remember I wrote about the need for an interpreting co-op back in September last year. As the co-op is developing and we are seeing more members join, it occurred to me that many people do not really understand what a co-operative is or how it works – I know I didn’t!

Whats a co-op?

You probably use quite a few co-ops in your everyday life without realising, and others, like the Co-op (!) you will be aware of. Did you know, for example that John Lewis is a co-operative? As is the Nationwide.

In the UK, there are 7,063 co-ops with over 14 million members and an annual turnover of £38.2 billion (from The Co-op Economy Report 2020: https://www.uk.coop/get-involved/awareness-campaigns/co-op-economy)! The first co-op on record was established in 1761 (the Fenwick Weavers)… so we know its a model that works – it’s been around for quite a while!

With Signalise we wanted to establish a business where everyone could come together and have an equal say, without any risk of it being sold off or people trying to make a profit out of it.

I have always believed that public funding should be for access and not used to pay private shareholders. This is about us wanting to create a sustainable community business that is a trusted and reliable provision. A co-operative model seemed to fit.

As an interpreter, one thing that has been missing, has been the opportunity to talk to Deaf people about our service. I have been lucky and work with people who are happy to talk to me about this but this isn’t being done routinely within the profession.

We know that there are issues Deaf people experience as a result of the way interpreters are booked, the lack of support for newly qualified interpreters/trainees who are being sent to bookings that aren’t appropriate for them, of not being able to give feedback and many others.

We know that often interpreters aren’t given the information they need ahead of a booking so are unable to prepare or even decide if a booking is within their skill set or not. Doesn’t it make sense then, to come together and sort all these issues out?

A co-operative is different because it is owned by the members. This really takes some getting used to and during our meetings, we have to constantly remind each other that this is our business, not one that belongs to the board. Talking openly about issues has really made us see just how excluded from the process we are. We have also realised what a huge mistake this has been, as the ideas and innovation taking place already has shown.

We hold a minimum of 4 all-member meetings per year but also have regular User and Worker meetings too. This gives Deaf people and interpreters a space to talk about their specific issues before coming together to discuss these as a wider group.

A representative from the other group will attend meetings to ensure everyone knows what is going on at all times. We recently provided training for some of our Deaf members to explain more about how a co-op works and the feedback has all been really positive. We are looking forward to rolling this out to all members.

Having Deaf members also designing and running the service, means nothing is being done without Deaf people’s input. We have been lucky enough to work with a Deaf developer and a Deaf Data Scientist who have both been able to use their expertise to make sure everything is being done in a way that works for everyone.

This way of working is unique. We don’t need to hold consultation events; we have these every time we hold a meeting!

What are community shares and why do we need investors? 

We are now asking people to invest money using Community Shares. These are a way for social businesses or community groups to raise money they need for their projects. For example, I have recently bought some shares in my local library to support their renovations. But they can be for all sorts of things.

To be allowed to issue Community Shares we had to go through a very strict process and all our information had to be checked and approved by Co-operatives UK. We have been awarded a Standard Mark, which shows we have met national standards of good practice.

We need this investment to be able to pay for staffing costs, to enhance the platform and upcoming VRS feature and to make sure we have enough working capital to be able to pay our freelancers. This will allow us to take on larger contracts.

We have made sure that it isn’t possible for investors to take over the business or make any decisions without Deaf and interpreter members.

You can invest here: https://www.ethex.org.uk/invest/signalise

If you need any help with the Ethex process, please get in touch with us at hello@signalise.coop and someone will help guide you through it.

What happens next? 

We are in the final stages of testing our platform and VRS service and will launch these in May and early June. We can’t wait for you to see what we’ve been building and hope you will be as excited as we are to start using our services.

Our membership has been based in Merseyside and parts of the North West until now but we are planning to slowly move into other areas. When we go to a new location, local groups of new members will be established and responsible for what happens in their area.

We want to make sure any profit made by the co-op is reinvested locally to benefit the local community. Working in this way means that we will have a national co-operative with a financial track record and ready-to use system, benefiting local groups who will have the ability to bid for and win larger contracts.

If you are a group of Deaf people or interpreters who would like a group in your area, please get in touch with us and let’s start talking!