This report details the actions taken by Lidl Great Britain Limited to ensure ongoing compliance with the Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP), which came into force on 4th February 2010.

This document also gives account, for the Company’s last full financial year (FY 19/20), of any allegations or Disputes that were raised by Suppliers, the level at which they were raised and resolved.

Actions undertaken prior to commencement of GCSOP:

In conjunction with external solicitors:

• All existing Terms and Conditions checked for compliance with the Code.
• Reference to GSCOP made in relation to all existing contracts.

Review of 2019-20

In-house compliance measures:

Grocery Code Adjudicator (GCA) Visit 26.03.20:

Lidl GB invited the GCA again this year to speak privately with Lidl’s Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Commercial Officer, and to present to Lidl GB’s senior buyers and key stakeholders from other supplier-facing departments. The visit was conducted remotely via video conference due to the Covid-19 outbreak. The meeting and presentation were well received and ensured Code compliance continues to have a high profile at Lidl GB. 

Training:

Since July 2019, the Code Compliance Officer has changed our GSCOP training set up and has been offering face-to-face training sessions every two months to give employees access to GSCOP training throughout the year and further raise GSCOP awareness.

Since the last annual compliance report, GSCOP Training has been carried out across 8 dates on 20.06.19, 30.07.19, 13.09.19, 26.09.19, 29.11.19, 07.04.20, 30.04.20 and 19.05.20 (a January training session needed to be cancelled). As part of Lidl GB’s whole organisation approach to Code compliance, we also scheduled exclusive training sessions for Regional Supply Chain teams on 20.06.19 and for Finance teams (Merchant Ledger and Accounts) on 30.07.19. 

A total of 137 Lidl GB employees were trained in FY 2019-20 (01.03.19 – 29.02.2020). 

Internal Review of Policies:

Over the past year, Lidl GB has undertaken the following actions: 

• Formally integrated GSCOP into its risk assessments and developed a comprehensive GSCOP audit programme as part of its whole organisation approach to Code compliance.
• Developed a new on-boarding package with relevant GSCOP information that is sent to all direct suppliers ahead of the supply relationship, and improved the process by which GSCOP information is provided to suppliers that are negotiated by Lidl’s International HQ on behalf of Lidl GB.
• Initiated a comprehensive payment process review following GCA survey and supplier feedback. Many process improvements have already been made following this review, such as a focus on the proactive elimination of price differences through regular meetings and reports. It is expected that this will increase the number of auto-matched invoices, leading to a more speedy resolution of disputed invoices for suppliers. 
• Implemented an IT tool to better track and monitor invoice queries from suppliers. 
• Continued monitoring of Lidl GB’s quarterly payment performance (this process was first started in March 2018).
• Started the development of a GSCOP e-learning to facilitate the training of new starters in Buying and train a wider pool of Lidl GB employees to ensure GSCOP awareness throughout the business. This e-learning is planned to launch in summer 2020.

Disputes:

No disputes have been raised to the CCO under Articles 11(2) or 11(3) of the Groceries (Supply Chain Practices) Market Investigation Order 2009.

Listed below are the instances in which a supplier has escalated a concern that is within the scope of the Code or the Order:

• Two supplier concerns were raised at level 2 (direct contact with the CCO, but no dispute raised), but fell outside the scope of the Code/ Order. 
• In one instance, a supplier concern was raised at level 1 and resolved at level 1 (concern raised with any other party in the business, typically the Buying team).
• In three instances, a supplier concern was raised at level 2 and resolved at level 1.
• In three instances, a supplier concern was raised at level 2 and resolved at level 2.
• One incident is reported as ongoing.

No Disputes have been escalated to level 3 (direct contact with CCO, formal dispute raised).

No Disputes have been escalated to level 4 (arbitration by GCA or other).

Sophie Wettlaufer

GSCOP Code Compliance Officer

Lidl GB Limited

Date: 30.06.20

Email: compliance@lidl.co.uk