Dear Ripple Coop 4 Member,
The crisp morning air confirms that autumn is here and for some it’s even half-term break soon. Meanwhile, here’s what we’ve been up to at Coop4…
Begbies Traynor, the administrators for Ripple Energy published their first progress report on time on the 16th October 2025 – see https://coop4.uk/documents/
- The Board has met and discussed the progress report.
- There are a number of things in the report that we don’t agree with, and we have responded to them via our legal representatives. We are particularly confused by the Administrators’ assertion that they have provided support to the Coop under the Management Services Agreement (MSA). They have not.
- The main news item in the report is that Begbies state that they have received “specialist legal counsel” advice regarding the status of the £6.8m that they placed into a separate ‘ring-fenced’ account. They also state that they were advised to apply for Court directions regarding the status of the funds. They anticipate a Court hearing to be held in “early 2026”. Begbies did not give us any prior notice about this step being taken and representations have been made to them about that.
Thanks to the generous response to our fundraising appeal via GoFundMe, we are pleased to tell you that we have also been able to obtain legal advice from a specialist barrister. As a result of this advice, we have sent legal communications to Begbies regarding Ripple Energy and the funds they collected from Coop 4 members. We cannot share any more detail at this stage, but we are acting in the best interests of the Coop and its members, and we believe our case has strong merit.
However, legal advice is expensive and, with the prospect of a court case in 2026, there is the possibility that we may need to seek more support.
Thank you to Tom Prior
Tom Prior has resigned from the Coop 4 Board with immediate effect for personal reasons. Tom has been involved with our campaign from the earliest days of Ripple’s administration. He co-formed the Friends of Whitelaw Braw group and organised the petition that initiated our first members’ meeting and put in place the steps to bring the Board together.
Tom will be known to many members due to his (often unglamorous) role of moderating WhatsApp groups and answering emails from members and maintaining our website. He has been a strong voice for members on the Board and will be missed. We wish Tom all the best for his future endeavours.
Support from our community
The community chat area continues to be very active.
- Some members report that they have been successful in recovering their funds using chargeback and section 75 claims from their credit card issuers. For an outline of the process see https://coop4.uk/chargeback-process-outline/
- Others are struggling with their banks, notably Starling and Revolut.
In some cases, members have complained to the Financial Ombudsman. It is encouraging to see the community spirit of a co-operative society alive in the forums where members actively help each other with their claims. Board members spend time managing the forums and assisting as well, but we also want to acknowledge three volunteers in particular: Maria Sale, Hannah C and Kerry Fletcher (‘KF’). All actively republish guidance many times a day when new members join. They refine guidance when needed, researching and writing new guidance where there’s a gap as well as patiently answering questions. Thank you to the three of you and also to everyone else who helps! We appreciate the support.
A reminder to look at our website for information:
- For an outline of the charge-back and section 75 process see https://coop4.uk/chargeback-process-outline/
- Many of the documents you will need are under https://coop4.uk/documents/
- Answers to many frequently asked questions are here – https://coop4.uk/faq/
Many of the answers to questions are there and, while we all like to help, we’d all prefer you to have looked there before asking.
AGM
The last item of news is that we plan to hold the AGM online soon. We will have more details in the next update and, in the meantime, please think about whether you would be interested in joining the Board…
As always, every member of the Board appreciates your continued support, assistance and constructive feedback.
With best wishes,
Sam, Sonya, Klaus, Jetinder, Sheena and David
Board of Directors – Ripple Coop 4 Limited
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