GCA urges Tesco to change the way it deals with suppliers
Tesco has been asked to change the way it deals with suppliers and to speed up its payments.
Grocery code adjudicator (GCA) Christine Tacon says the supermarket has breached the Groceries Supply Code of Practice by at times “prioritising its own finances over treating suppliers fairly”.
Tacon has written to the Provision Trade Federation (PTF) and other organisations with the conclusions of her first investigation into Tesco plc.
She has found the company has breached Paragraph 5 of the code (no delay in payments) but has not breached Paragraph 12 (no payments for better positioning of goods unless in relation to promotions).
To address her findings, Tacon has made five recommendations which she says will provide greater certainty to suppliers that they will be paid on time and that disputes and errors will be resolved promptly.
The adjudicator has also said that many suppliers have reported an improvement in relations with Tesco since the period under investigation – June 2013 until February 2015.
As a result of her investigation, Tacon will be launching a formal consultation to gather more information about practices covered by Paragraph 12 of the code across the groceries sector.
This will be published on the GCA website.
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