The Competition & Markets Authority has urged the government to keep faith with the Groceries Code Adjudicator, telling ministers the supermarket watchdog is providing a “valuable and trusted” service.
The role of Adjudicator Mark White has been under scrutiny recently after the Department for Business & Trade (DBT) launched a review in May.
The CMA’s response to the consultation said the GCA “continues to have sufficient and appropriate powers to enforce compliance with the Code effectively”.
It added: “The CMA also considers that the GCA has been effective in undertaking its role and exercising its powers. The GCA appears to continue to be considered a valuable and trusted adjudicator, and since its creation it has made significant progress in addressing the competition concerns identified in the 2008 report, as evidenced by its annual survey results.”
Minister for employment rights, competition and markets Justin Madders, who is leading the review, has said fewer code-related issues for large supermarkets were reported between April 2022 and March 2025, the period covered by the review. But he added there had been “compliance issues”, most notably with online giant Amazon.
Since the DBT began the review, White has launched an official investigation into Amazon, claiming he has “reasonable grounds” to suspect it breached paragraph five of the groceries code (no delay in payments) between 1 March 2022 and 20 June 2025.
He also published the GCA’s latest YouGov survey of suppliers in June, showing the proportion who reported facing a code compliance issue from a retailer was 30%, down from 33% in 2024.
Sources said the backing of the CMA made it very unlikely the government would embark on any major change to the remit of the Adjudicator, despite long-running calls from farming bodies for the remit of the role to be extended to cover indirect suppliers.
In its evidence response, the NFU called for “improved reporting confidence, better co-ordination with related regulators, and expanded oversight where needed” for the Adjudicator.
“This includes stronger protections for indirect suppliers, whose relationships with supermarkets are often mediated through processors, packers, or other intermediaries,” it said.
Ged Futter, founder of The Retail Mind, said: “The Adjudicator gets knocked by suppliers but I think this shows that the CMA realises it is a service very much worth keeping, and that it does provide value for money.
“Frankly, who knows what might happen with the government, but I would be very surprised if there were major changes to his remit.”
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