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Below is a list of recent news and media coverage. For older items, see News archive.
GSCOP – Get trained, know the code, speak up!
Spend Matters – 25th February 2020
We haven’t heard from 4C Associates in some time, but they look to have been busy with new hires and a new website. We’ll be catching up with business developments soon. But for now, Simon Latham, a senior manager with the procurement consultancy, shares his thoughts on The Grocery Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP), having worked at JS, Safeway and Tesco where he wrote Tesco’s GSCOP training material and trained over 3,000 people.…
Webinar: An update from the GCA
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GCA reaches out to small suppliers
Speciality Food – 10 February 2020
The Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA), Christine Tacon, has launched the seventh annual survey, which provides suppliers with the opportunity to express any Groceries Supply Code of Practice issues. The survey has enabled Christine, as the UK’s first GCA, to achieve progress for suppliers, demonstrate where retailer efforts have improved Code compliance and identify areas for improvement.…
GCA opens annual survey
Fresh Produce Journal – 07 February 2020
Christine Tacon launches final survey of suppliers as Groceries Code Adjudicator before her term ends in June
The Groceries Code Adjudicator Christine Tacon has launched her annual survey of supermarket suppliers, ten years on from when the Groceries Supply Code of Practice came into force.
The survey, which will be Tacon’s last as GCA before her term ends in June, has played a vital role in regulating and improving retailer practices.…
New Markets: New Opportunities in 2020
Lexology – 06 February 2020
The turn of a year into a new decade sharpens our focus on what’s happening in our market and what may affect our future. Scotland Food and Drink’s target value for the sector of £30bn by 2030 seems significantly closer in February 2020 than it did when we hosted our annual conference in November 2019!…
After 10 years of GSCOP, what’s changed – and what’s left to do?
The Grocer – 05 February 2020
This week the Groceries Supply Code of Practice reached a major milestone: its 10-year anniversary. Introduced to ensure the country’s largest retailers treat their suppliers lawfully and fairly, the landscape for groceries suppliers has changed enormously since 4 February 2010.…
Women in Food and Agriculture event proves to be a great success
Farming Life – 09 January 2020
Over 300 delegates from 26 countries made their way to Amsterdam for the inaugural Women in Food & Agriculture Summit.
The agribusiness and food event brought together some of the sector’s most progressive and disruptive thinkers with an audience that wanted to openly debate the inclusivity and diversity of the agri-food industry.…
Women in agribusiness: ‘We are not men in skirts’
Farmers Journal – 25 December 2019
Following seven years as the UK’s Groceries Code Adjudicator, Christine Tacon speaks to Amii McKeever about her background, why she is leaving this role and women in agribusiness.
Click here to view the full article. …
GCA’s self-regulation proposal: the big misunderstanding
The Grocer – 17th December 2019
Suppliers are concerned and retailers are confused. Christine Tacon, the outgoing Groceries Code Adjudicator, said in her final annual conference she wanted “to see the retailers build for themselves a whole-organisation approach to code compliance”.…
UK grocery watchdog has dramatically changed dysfunctional UK supermarkets
Farmers Journal – 05 November 2019
Since taking office in 2013, the UK’s grocery code adjudicator has delivered dramatic behavioural change in how UK supermarkets treat suppliers.
Click here to view the full article. …
Christine Tacon urges government to stick with ‘collaborative’ GCA approach
The Grocer – 27th August 2019
Groceries Code Adjudicator Christine Tacon has urged the government not to ditch her “collaborative” approach to tackling retailer-supplier disputes, as she presses ahead with plans for a system of self-regulation.
Responding to a statutory review of the role by Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), Tacon produced written support from supermarkets and food and drink companies.…
Christine Tacon’s exit announcement will surely make suppliers nervous
The Grocer – 24th June 2019
Read the full article here.…
Outgoing UK grocery business adjudicator sets out new approach to regulation
Just Food – 25th June 2019
The UK government body overseeing the behaviour of the country’s large supermarket chains has set out a new compliance strategy.
The Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA), Christine Tacon, told the organisation’s annual conference in London yesterday (24 June) that her aim is to drive effective top-to-bottom compliance risk management by the retailers she regulates.
However, it has led to concerns that the changes are effectively ushering in self-regulation.…
Aldi tops GCA annual survey for 6th year with Co-op the most improved
Farmers Guardian – 25th June 2019
97 per cent of suppliers said Aldi complies consistently well or mostly well with the code.
Aldi has topped the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) annual survey for the sixth year, with 97 per cent of suppliers stating the retailer complied well or mostly well with the Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP).…
Retail supplier complaints hit new low
Fresh Produce Journal – 24h June 2019
Aldi again named most Code-compliant supermarket in annual report by Groceries Code Adjudicator
The number of supplier complaints against supermarkets has fallen to a new low, the Groceries Code Adjudicator’s new annual report indicates.…
Suppliers call for Amazon to be regulated by Groceries Code Adjudicator
Yorkshire Post – 24th June 2019
Food and drink suppliers have called for online giant Amazon to come under the watch of the grocery industry regulator.
Amazon and Boots were the two retailers which received the most requests from suppliers to come under the remit of the Groceries Code Adjudicator, according to its annual survey.…
Groceries Code Adjudicator to step down
Retailers to be given ‘self-policing GSCOP role as Adjudicator steps down
The Grocer – 24th June 2019
Read the full article here.…
Christine Tacon could face plenty of flak in the BEIS review of the GCA
Read the full article Waitrose and Ocado to sign up to supplier audit respite pledge
The Grocer – 20th June 2019
Read the full article here. …
Christine Tacon: suppliers can learn from GSCOP-regulated retailers on payment terms
The Grocer- 30th May 2019
The regulated retailers have told Tacon that being code compliant has improved their internal efficiency.
Read the article here.…
As next GCA league table looms, here’s what suppliers need to look out for
The Grocer – 29th May 2019
In six years, Tacon’s collaborative approach has improved retailer compliance and seen millions returned direct to victim suppliers. It is not just working, it has become the envy of many other countries
On 24 June, at the Grocer Code Adjudicator’s annual conference, we will see the new league table of retailer compliance.…
IOD Director Of The Year Finalist
Groceries Code Adjudicator Announced as IOD London and South Director of the Year Awards Finalist
Christine Tacon has been shortlisted for the public sector director of the year at the 2019 IoD London & South Director of the Year Awards.
The finalists were chosen from the hundreds of directors that entered or were nominated across nine different categories.
The expert judging panel will now convene to decide the overall winners to be announced at the awards ceremony on Thursday 20 June 2019 at the iconic 116 Pall Mall, the home of the Institute of Directors.…
The Times: 16/05/2019
MPs upset as groceries watchdog rejects extra powers
The grocery regulator has clashed with MPs after they accused her of not being willing to take on powers that would provide more extensive protection to supermarket suppliers.
The business, energy and industrial strategy committee expressed frustration with Christine Tacon, the Groceries Code Adjudicator, after she said she did not need any more powers and resisted offering a view on a number of issues affecting suppliers.…
Farmers Guardian: 03/05/2019
Gender equality: Why British agriculture is in need of a culture change
With gender equality in the workplace rising up the agenda, Christine Tacon spoke to Olivia Midgley about why she thinks agriculture is in need of a culture change.
Throughout her 40 years in business, Christine Tacon has enjoyed senior roles at some of the world’s biggest companies, including Mars, Vodafone and Anchor/Fonterra.
News from the Adjudicator
The Times: 26/03/2019
Co-op escapes fine despite adjudicator’s scathing criticism
The Co-operative Group has avoided a fine from the grocery regulator despite being found guilty of “widespread” failings in how it treated its suppliers.
A year-long investigation by the Groceries Code Adjudicator found that the supermarket had dropped suppliers’ products without due notice, levied unfair charges on them and unreasonably varied their supply deals.
The Grocer: 26/03/2019
GCA got the right result on Co-op code compliance breaches
Read the full article here.
by Ronan Hegarty…
The Grocer: 13/12/18
The Times: 02/11/2018
Ocado and B&M join grocery code
The supermarket industry watchdog is to start monitoring how Ocado and B&M Homestores treat suppliers after their respective annual turnovers passed the £1 billion mark.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that Ocado, the online grocer, and B&M, the cut-price retailer, would be bound by the Groceries Supply Code of Practice, which governs how suppliers are treated to avoid abuses of power.