co-op's ethical sourcing polcy

effective tuesday 24th June

A message from Matt Hood, Managing Director of Co-op Food

On Tuesday 24th June, Co-op is announcing an update to our sourcing policy, approved by The Group Board.

This policy is the first of its kind among UK retailers and reflects our commitment to co-operating for peace and ensuring our sourcing practices align with our values and vision.

Why this Policy Matters

Following an extensive 18 month review by the Board and in response to feedback from our members, Co-op will, wherever possible, cease sourcing products and ingredients from countries where there is internationally recognised, community wide human rights abuse or violations or international law.

This policy, approved by the Co-op Group Board, builds on our 'Hate Divides Communities, Co-operation Builds Them' campaign launched in February 2025, which champions peace through co-operation.

What's Changing?

We will, wherever possible, cease sourcing products and services from specific countries based on the following three criteria:

1. Independent agreement among respected assessments (including the UN and others) that there is consistent behaviour amounting to community wide human rights abuses or violations of international law.

2. Meaningful impact - our actions must have the potential to make a direct or indirect difference to those affected and help alleviate suffering.

3. Alignment with our values - our actions must uphold our integrity as a commercially successful co-operative business, remaining true to our co-operative values and principles.

Countries of Concern

We have relied on assessments from independent bodies, including the United Nations, to identify 17 countries of concern.

These are:


Afghanistan, Belarus, Central African Republic, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Haiti, Iran, Israel, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

What this Means for You

We've already begun notifying suppliers we believe are directly affected. The removal of products and ingredients will be phased in, starting this summer. Wherever possible, we will work with suppliers to explore alternative sourcing countries or, where appropriate, consider removing products from our range.

For ingredients that are clearly and solely sourced from countries of concern, they will be removed from Co-op branded products. However, due to the complexity of global supply chains, particularly for ingredients such as herbs and spices, complete removal may not always be feasible. In such cases, we remain committed to transparency.

If you believe you have products that fall within scope, please raise this with your buyer.

Ongoing Collaboration

We'll continue to review both the policy and the list of countries on a regular basis. Our aim is to work collaboratively with our suppliers to manage this transition responsibly and in full compliance with GSCOP regulations. We value your partnership and appreciate your support as we implement this important change.

If you have any questions or need further guidance, please contact your Co-op commercial representative.

For a confidential conversation regarding any aspect of your business with Co-op, you are welcome to reach out to our Code Compliance Officer, Saleem Chowdhery, at [email protected].

invoicing

Invoicing of supplier income for promotions, central income, and long-term agreements has been paused since Friday 2 May 2025. We will resume invoicing from Tuesday 10 June 2025.

As we work through the backlog, further updates will be issued to impacted suppliers and we will work closely with you to ensure a smooth transition back to business as usual. If you use the netting off process for invoicing, you may experience a temporary impact on your cash flows as we work through and apply the backlog of invoices to your account.

We understand how important timely payments are, and we will contact you directly if your payment schedule is affected.

help and support

If the disruption has significantly impacted your business, please contact your buyer to discuss any issues. We're committed to working collaboratively with you to minimise the impact on your business.

For a confidential chat about any aspect of your business, you can contact our Code Compliance Officer, Saleem Chowdhery, at [email protected].

Co-op connect

All suppliers have now been asked to submit vendor funds for PP12 and PP13 seasonal promotions only.

Please note that Co-op Connect still has limited functionality, and suppliers should only submit information if specifically requested to do so.

We will keep you updated as more Co-op Connect functionality comes back online.

range events and promotions

We have made good progress in rescheduling range events and revising promotional plans, with the aim of delivering as much of our planned in-store activity as possible.

Your buyer will be in touch to discuss any changes to planned activity dates with you directly.

Supplier visits to stores

If you have BAU visitors going to our stores, you are reminded to follow the below:

Visitors must present themselves to a member of staff, with their photo ID to show who they are representing and why.

Visitors must log in using the till screens as normal.

Visitors will not be allowed in store back areas (warehouses and offices) without supervision of a colleague. This policy applies without exception.

If Co-op colleagues are completing tasks, please be patient in requesting their time.

Any overnight work must be recorded in the store's calendar. Additionally, contractors must carry a signed letter of authority from Co-op to be permitted on-site.

Please do not send unplanned visitors into our stores.

co-op connect back online

Co-op Connect is now back online with limited functionality.

While this is great news, please note that some internal systems are still being restored, and certain features may remain limited for the time being.

Please refrain from making any changes in Co-op Connect until further notice.

forecasts

Forecasts shared have been produced in good faith and
represent an accurate overall picture of our medium to long-term demand.

In the short term, daily volumes may fluctuate to support
efficient operational recovery at depots and stores. This variability is
expected to continue until full system recovery is achieved.

If you have any questions about this, please contact your
Co-op demand planner or buyer to discuss further.

 

If you need further support 

If the disruption has significantly impacted your business,
please contact your buyer to discuss any issues. We're committed to working
collaboratively with you to minimise the impact on your business. 

 

For a confidential chat about any aspect of your business
you can contact our Code Compliance Officer, Saleem Chowdhery at 

[email protected].

SAP ORDERS ARE UP AND RUNNING

We are pleased to inform you that systemic-based orders resumed for Ambient, Fresh, Chilled and Frozen products from Wednesday 14 May.

However, due to the recent system disruption, we are unable to provide accurate product forecasting until further notice.

We acknowledge that production forecasts have been impacted by the disruption and appreciate your support in making every effort to fulfil orders as requested.

We anticipate some volatility in order volumes over the next few days as our systems update and return to normal operational efficiency.

During this period, some suppliers may experience sporadic inclusion or exclusion of product lines in their orders, and in some cases, full orders. We will do our absolute best to minimise these disruptions and appreciate your patience as we work towards resuming full supply.

We aim to share these systemic orders with you through our standard EDI channel. Therefore, suppliers are advised to ensure their systems are connected and ready to receive orders from Co-op


To ensure the smooth receipt of ambient and frozen orders, these suppliers should follow standard Booking In procedures once they have received their orders and are clear on when these can be delivered. Those using the Primary Warehousing operations are requested to contact their relevant site/operation if they need to deliver in stock, so we are able to control the intake of goods.

PRODUCT DEROGATIONS


Please do not deliver unplanned stock or additional volume to our depots without prior agreement.

If you have short-shelf-life stock produced for Co-op which has not been ordered, please speak to your Demand Planner to agree a pragmatic way forwards. We remain committed to taking Co-op branded finished products that have been produced to forecast.


Currently the usual ambient derogation process is offline so we are asking suppliers to highlight products which may require derogation directly to the Demand Planner. As this process is manual, and our current order patterns are volatile we would ask suppliers to make us aware of any issues at the earliest opportunity.

Please do not deliver products to our depots without our prior agreement, as it's highly likely this will be rejected. Any stock sent must be in line with the volumes we have agreed. 

Derogation Request Form

Shelf Life Derogation Process - Ambient and Frozen

Shelf Life Derogation Process - Fresh

Please find below a link to our temporary ambient derogation form, while Co-op connect is offline.

https://supplier.coop.co.uk/temporary-derogation-ambient

If you need further support

If the disruption at our other depots has significantly impacted your business, please contact the relevant buyer to discuss any issues. We are committed to working collaboratively with all our suppliers to minimise the impact on your business.

For a confidential chat about any aspect of your business you can contact our Code Compliance Officer, Saleem Chowdhery at [email protected] in complete confidence.

 

INVOICING TRANSITION


As we transition back to placing orders via SAP, our updated invoicing guidance is:

Standard Invoices

For all new SAP orders from Wednesday May 14, where you have a SAP purchase order (PO) number, please invoice via EDI or SNC as you would ordinarily do, quoting the PO number the order was fulfilled with.

For all manual orders already placed which are in the process of being produced or delivered, please continue to use the non-PO invoice process below.

Invoices for orders dated the week commencing Monday 28 April or earlier can now be submitted via EDI or SNC. However, if you have already submitted these invoices through the non-PO process, please do not resubmit them.

If you attempted to send EDI invoices between Friday 3 May and Monday 12 May, it’s likely they were not received. Please reprocess these invoices via EDI using the same invoice reference number as the original submission.

FRTS Direct Invoices

For any FRTS direct invoices that were held or sent from Friday 3 May onwards, you can now submit them via EDI. If you attempted to send EDI invoices for FRTS directs between Friday 3 May and Monday 12 May, it’s likely they were not received. Please resubmit these invoices via EDI using the same invoice reference number as the original.

Please send ASN's as usual through EDI.

INTERIM MANUAL INVOICING PROCESS

For manual PO's raised between Saturday 3 May and Monday 12 May, please use our non-PO invoicing process for invoicing.

Note: for suppliers that always use the manual PO process, continue to use this process for all of your invoices.

To do this, you need to complete an Excel based template with one row for each depot delivery invoice, at a total delivery level, along with PDF back-ups, which itemises each invoice.

Please refer to the template, example and user documents below, to guide you through this process.

Co-op Invoice File guide

Depot ANA Codes

Non PO Invoice File Example

Non PO Invoice Template

For any queries relating to the manual invoicing process, please email [email protected] with a subject line: Non PO Invoice Template – Queries.

PAYMENT QUERIES


We remain committed to paying all suppliers on time and in full.

For any urgent payment requests contact [email protected] with subject heading “URGENT PAYMENT REQUEST”.

For payment queries relating to SAP PO's raised before Friday 2 May, please raise them using the normal method on the ISM (Heat) portal through MyApps.

For payment queries relating to Manual PO's raised between Friday 2 May and Monday 12 May, please contact [email protected] with a subject line: Non PO Invoice Template – Queries.

INTERIM WAYS OF WORKING FAQs

Why have I not received any PO's from Co-op?

We are now generating orders through SAP again and you should have started to receive PO's again from Tuesday 13 May. If you have not received orders as expected, please speak to your Demand Planner.

I have short-dated stock produced for Co-op, what shall I do?

If you have short-shelf-life stock produced for Co-op which has not been ordered, please speak to your buyer to agree a pragmatic way forwards. We remain committed to taking Co-op branded finished products that have been produced to forecast.

Is Co-op Connect working?

Co-op Connect is online, however, it is not currently flowing information through to SAP. Therefore, changes that have been keyed into Co-op connect since Friday 2 May will not have been processed. This includes new product listings, promotions and cost price changes, as well as any article level amendments that have been keyed. We will communicate with all suppliers to inform you when this is back up and running.

Please do not key any new Change Requests (CR's) into Co-op Connect until further notice.

I have invoices to send for orders generated before Friday 2 May - how can I send them without EDI?


For SAP PO's raised before Friday 2 May, please use Coop’s SNC portal to send invoices, ASN's and credit notes.

We cannot currently add any new users to SNC. Every supplier has at least one user ID for SNC, which is usually your EDI contact.

SNC User Guide

SNC Access Request Form

Where can I find the correct contact details for my Co-op team?


Your Co-op Contacts are always available on this link, which is updated every 4 weeks: https://supplier.coop.co.uk/contact-matrix

For details of Supply Chain contacts over the weekend please visit:


https://supplier.coop.co.uk/supplychain-cover

There's someone in my organisation who isn't receiving updates from Co-op, how do I add them?


Please add all relevant contacts to our distribution list using this form: Update your contact details