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Thank you for your letter. I’m aware that the British Retail Consortium has reached out to you and provided a response on behalf of the supermarket sector, which Aldi is aligned to.

However, we would also like to provide our own response to your concerns, which we hope is helpful and demonstrates our commitment to moving forward on this issue.

We remain committed to continuous improvement, meaning that we will always work with suppliers to address the root causes of any issues on that basis, and we believe that SMETA 7.0 will encourage and allow retailers, growers and recruiters to share the responsibility when tackling systemic issues.

All UK food retailers have written to Sedex to ask for a reconsideration of the implementation timelines for SMETA 7.0 to ensure a successful launch. We have also expressed the need for clear guidance and transparency over timelines to ensure an efficient rollout.

We work closely with the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on the jointly funded Employer Pays Principle feasibility study to understand how EPP can be best implemented. We also work with the rest of the industry and the … through our participation in and funding of the Seasonal Worker Scheme Taskforce.

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