Friday 16th May 2025
Dear Valued Members,
As CEO of the Heart of England Co-operative Society, I want to acknowledge the noticeable challenges we have experienced in our Food Stores over the past 14 days, following the cyber attack on the Co-op Group.
We have been truly overwhelmed by the support from our loyal customers and members during this time. Our colleagues are working tirelessly to get products back on our shelves as quickly as possible. We are pleased to share that the Co-op Group’s digital ordering systems are now back online, allowing our Central Support Teams to place orders that will help improve product availability. While this process will take time, we sincerely ask for your continued patience.
Over the last couple of days we have received several deliveries to our Support Centre in Coventry, where our dedicated colleagues have been helping offload and distribute products to our stores. We have also taken significant steps to partner with alternative suppliers to boost product availability, and hopefully you will already be seeing improvements. From today you will also see more colleagues in stores as we step up our ‘Helping Hands’ programme to support our Stores.
This spirit of cooperation is what sets us apart — and we are proud of it. I will continue to keep you updated in the coming days, and on behalf of all of us at the Heart of England Co-operative Society, THANK YOU for your continued loyalty and support.
With best wishes,
Steve Browne, Chief Executive Officer
Monday 12th May 2025
Dear Valued Members,
We’d like to take this opportunity to ‘Thank you’ for your continued support following the challenges faced by the cyber attack at Co-op Group.
Since our last update on Thursday, we’ve received so many messages of support from you, our valued Member’s. Whilst product availability is improving it’s our duty as a Co-operative to remain honest and transparent with you.
We are continuing to receive stock daily, and we are also receiving increased stock from our local suppliers, who have been wonderfully supportive as we navigate through these challenging times.
We remain in close contact with our colleagues at Co-op Group, and our colleagues in stores are doing everything they can to get products on the shelves as quickly as possible, to try and limit the impact on our Member’s and Customers.
We will continue to update you later this week when we will hopefully continue to see more improvements.
Once again, thank you for your support. We are owned by our Member’s and we’re doing everything we can to do right by you.
With best wishes,
Steve Browne, Chief Executive Officer
Thursday 8th May 2025
Dear Valued Members,
I hope this message finds you well. Following my communication on Monday, May 5th, I wanted to provide you with a brief update regarding the ongoing challenges we are facing due to persistent hacking attempts on our Co-operative Group systems.
As a smaller local co-op, Heart of England Co-operative Society relies heavily on the goodwill of our members and customers to continue our important work across the communities we serve. We are currently anticipating improvements in our group systems, which should lead to more consistent product deliveries in the coming days. However, please be aware that our availability, especially in fresh food, may still be compromised for the time being.
Your support means the world to us and we sincerely appreciate it during this challenging period. As a Co-op, our mission is to serve the community, but we also need to ensure our sustainability to make a lasting difference.
These are unprecedented times, and we are navigating challenges that we have not faced before, though we recognise that they may not be the last. Your
understanding and loyalty are invaluable to us. We are owned by you and we will do right by you.
Thank you for sticking with us. I will continue to keep you updated in the days ahead.
With best wishes,
Steve Browne, Chief Executive Officer
1. What has happened?
Co-op Group are continuing to experience sustained malicious attempts by hackers to access their systems. As part of these attempts, hackers were able to access and extract data from one of their systems.
This is a complex and ongoing situation, which Co-op Group are investigating in conjunction with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the National Crime Agency (NCA). They have put in place enhanced security measures to protect our systems and minimise disruption for our colleagues, customers, members, and partners. Please note that this store is independently run by Heart of England Co-operative Society whose member data remains unaffected.
2. What information has been accessed?
The data Co-op Group believe was extracted includes Co-op Group members’ personal data such as names, contact details (residential address, email address and phone number) and dates of birth.
They do not believe the following types of identifiable personal data have been extracted: members’ passwords, bank or credit card details, transactions or information relating to any members’ or customers’ products or services with the Co-op Group. Again, please note that this store is independently run by Heart of England Co-operative Society whose member data remains unaffected.
3. What should I do right now?
You don’t need to take any action as the data we hold at Heart of England Co-operative Society remains unaffected. Colleague data is also unaffected.
4. Can I still use my membership card?
Yes. Your membership is active and secure. You can continue to use your Heart of England Co-op membership card as normal.
5. Why is product availability affected?
The hackers were able to block access to Co-op Groups Staging Server and access still remains affected. As a result orders are not being processed as usual. Co-op Group are working hard to provide us with reduced stock levels until their systems are up and running again. Please bear with us as this is outside of our control.