Our democracy

Our members are our owners – they tell us what is important to them; we listen and act on it. That is how we provide members and customers with what they really want from our businesses, and help local communities to help themselves. We do this democratically through our network of member representatives.

Area committees

Your area committee is made up of elected members from your community. Area committee members represent you, your concerns and suggestions – from how our businesses can be improved to how we can help local communities.

Regional boards

The eight regional boards bring together representatives from their region’s area committees. Each regional board helps us manage our businesses in their region by approving spending in order to open new stores and improving existing ones, and supervising the strategy for how we help that region’s local communities. Regional board representatives are elected by area committee members to sit on our national board.

The Group board

Regional representatives sit on our national or Group Board, alongside representatives of independent co-operative societies that do business with us. Collectively The Group Board is responsible for determining the vision and strategy of The Group as a whole.

membership - Apply online to become a members today for access to the exclusive website, and make our business your business.

your representatives - More about Membership elections.