Supermarkets have been confronted by the Groceries Code Adjudicator over “persistent” issues with delays in payment, forecasting and delistings.
In a series of meetings with retailer code compliance officers, Adjudicator Mark White said he was pushing ahead with “proportionate action” to ensure behaviour improved.
White held meetings with all the major supermarkets throughout November and December.
It comes after the Adjudicator revealed in September that supermarkets had been returning to the kind of forecasting activity that has previously led farmers to plough millions of tonnes of produce back into the ground, despite the advent of high-tech forecasting tools.
His survey found poor supermarket forecasting behaviour had become “more entrenched” despite the growth of new supplier portals.
Delays in payment and short notice delisting were also raised as key ongoing issues, along with the lack of clear, reliable data from the forecasting tools.
In a new report to the industry, White said: “The GCA discussed with CCOs the actions retailers were taking to resolve issues reported by suppliers, including those highlighted in the 2025 GCA annual survey.
“The GCA noted the persistence of some code issues and the importance of supplier feedback in enabling the GCA and retailers to eliminate those issues.
“CCOs explained the actions that they were taking to facilitate confidential reporting of issues and to ensure no negative consequences for suppliers that do raise issues. The GCA and CCOs discussed steps that retailers could take to communicate to suppliers that retailers want to hear from them when issues arise.”
However, White, who launched his first official investigation, against Amazon, in June, noted that overall supermarket behaviour was continuing to improve.
“My 2025 survey results again showed improved supplier perceptions of compliance with the Groceries Code.
“For the first time, over 90% of suppliers to 13 retailers reported that the retailer mostly or consistently complied with the code. Reported code issues were down.”
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