Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) Christine Tacon has slashed the time eight of the UK’s leading retailers backdate demands for money for from six financial years to two.
Forensic auditing, a predatory practice in which supermarkets hire lawyers to trawl through accounts and records to hunt for cash that might be owed to them by suppliers, was the number one issue Tacon dealt with during her first year in the newly-created role.
But Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl, The Co-operative, Marks & Spencer and Iceland have voluntarily decided to heed the GCA’s advice and amend the way they look to chase historical payments.
The two other leading supermarkets within Tacon’s remit - as overseer of the relationship between the UK’s ten leading grocery retailers and their suppliers - who have not agreed to voluntarily cut the timeframe, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, have their own reasons for not wanting to do so, Tacon told delegates at today (23 June)’s inaugural Groceries Code Adjudicator conference, held in Westminster.
Tacon, who ran The Co-operative’s farming business for 11 years until 2012, said there have been four others issues consistently raised by suppliers during her time in office alongside forensic auditing.
These were differences between what suppliers say has been delivered and what retailers claim they have received; unrealistic forecasting levels; request for lump-sum payments; and packaging and design charges, particularly when suppliers are forced to work with the retailer’s usually more expensive preferred supplier list.
Tacon told delegates that her aim for her second year in the role is to tackle these issues.
The results of a YouGov survey into the effectiveness of the GCA and the Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP) were also revealed at today’s conference.
Over half (58 per cent) of the 574 respondents, which included trade associations, and direct and indirect suppliers, said fear of the consequences was why suppliers to major retailers felt they couldn’t raise issues to the GCA.
The survey also found that there were concerns about the GCA’s ability to deal with problems efficiently, with 41 per cent saying they would not raise issues about retailers because they didn’t think the GCA could do anything.
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