The Annual Report and Accounts for 2019/20 shows
significant positives and progress for Christine Tacon after seven
years as the Groceries Code Adjudicator.
A competitive groceries sector with stronger and more effective
communication between retailers and their direct suppliers is the
legacy of seven years of successful regulation, the outgoing
Groceries Code Adjudicator says today.
In her end-of-term report Christine Tacon, the UK’s first GCA
highlights the impact of her work and how the sector has changed
since the Groceries Supply Code of Practice was introduced 10
years ago.
We have seen an increase, not a decrease, in competition in the
sector as three more retailers have exceeded £1 billion
turnover of groceries and been designated by the Competition
and Markets Authority,” she says in the foreword to the
2019/2020 Annual Report and Accounts.
Furthermore, fresh produce suppliers have been growing in size
and are confident under the protection of the Code to work
closely and on longer contracts with retailers.
And there is stronger and more effective communication between
retailers and suppliers; this is a significant change, the
value of which has been apparent in the current Coronavirus
crisis and the resultant need to maintain very efficient supply
chains.
Suppliers feel more able to challenge the retailers to get the
best joint solutions – no longer is the response “how high?”
when the retailers ask them to jump.
Ms Tacon added:
I came into this role because I wanted to make a difference and
I believe the evidence shows I have.
I will leave the GCA in the knowledge that by working with the
sector, I have shifted the regulated retailers from
practice-based compliance to enduring culture change, driving
effective compliance risk management at all levels in every
regulated business. This should ensure that breaches don’t
happen and that if they do, they are quickly picked up and put
right.
The Annual Report and Accounts for 2019/20 is Ms Tacon’s final
report as GCA as she announced a year ago she would step down
after her second term in office ends in June. However she is
staying on for a short period to provide continuity and
consistency in dealing with issues that may arise from changes to
supply arrangements during the early stages of the COVID-19
emergency.
In the report the GCA points to other significant positives.
The original 10 regulated retailers are now exemplars among
businesses for paying on time. The Duty to Report on Payment
Practices and Performance results submitted to the Department
for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy cover all
invoices, not just groceries, so are only a guide.
These 10 retailers notably paid between 93%-100% of all their
invoices on time, whereas only 13% of all the suppliers to
those retailers achieved the same level of prompt payment.
Working between retailers and suppliers has become more
efficient. For example the business practices implemented in
response to inconsistencies arising as a result of drop and
drive have eliminated masses of paperwork as well as reducing
time wasted on challenges.
Consumers have benefitted from an increase in innovative
products on the supermarket shelves, created by a growing
number of speciality suppliers which the retailers are
welcoming to increase differentiation.
“I believe my success has come from the unique way I
established of working with the retailers. I have taken a
collaborative approach which should also be at the heart of
healthy supplier-retailer relationships.
Over the past seven years I have had more than 300 meetings
with retailers’ Code Compliance Officers to take up issues I
was hearing from suppliers and ensure retailers were making
progress in putting things right.
In her foreword to the Annual Report the GCA stresses that her
collaborative approach is “not a soft touch” but one that enables
tough, honest conversations and prompt remedial action and one
which can be escalated to closer engagement to resolve issues or
even to a formal investigation.
As well as her approach to regulation Ms Tacon identifies the
GCA’s annual survey as another vital tool to secure progress,
with the 2020 results telling a very positive story. She
concludes:
I strongly believe that the Code, combined with the changes in
culture and behaviour I have encouraged over the past seven
years, provided the foundations for the excellent reaction of
the groceries supply chain to the Coronavirus emergency.
The regulated groceries retailers and their suppliers
overwhelmingly responded with the best interests of the
consumer at the heart of everything they did and there has been
a high level of communication between them throughout.
Notes to editors
