The Co-operative Group has announced that it will “ask the nation to help shape the future” of the 150-year-old organisation.

In the biggest piece of engagement research in its history, the group said that it will ask the public, including its customers, colleagues and members, to "Have Your Say" on the issues that matter to them.

The survey, which has been developed in conjunction with YouGov, will pose a detailed set of broad-ranging questions on the Co-operative and how it can “have a positive influence on people’s lives and on their local communities”.

In a statement, the company said: “The themes will include what the Co-operative means to people now and what it should stand for in the future, the most important issues facing local communities and the role the Co-operative can play in making a meaningful difference in those communities, how the Co-operative shares its profits, whether the Co-operative should make political donations, what the Co-operative could do to improve its goods and services.

Euan Sutherland, group chief executive, the Co-operative Group said: "We will be asking people up and down the country what they believe the Co-operative should really stand for. This is an unprecedented move for an organisation of the size and the scale of the Co-operative and the results will feed directly into our wider review of strategy and purpose.

"In recent years the Co-operative has lost touch with its customers and members and with the communities in which it operates - we haven't been listening. As a new management team we are focused on renewing the Co-operative and the UK public will be vital to that process.

"If we are to successfully serve the communities in which we operate, to become as relevant today as we were in the past, we need to hear directly from the communities and the people we serve. We have seen incredible loyalty from our customers, colleagues and members in recent months - now we want to reward that loyalty."