Supplier received twelve week’s notice for full de-list, £18m of turnover & over 50% of site production volume. Products were innovative, award winning & exclusive to the Retailer.

Loss of this contract had the potential to cause the site to close with the loss of over 250 jobs.

Action

We reviewed over two years of emails looking for further evidence of behaviour contrary to the Code & not in line with GSCOP.

We advised our client that there were a number of actions by the Retailer that were not Code compliant and how to address these with the Buyer.

We attended a number of meetings with our client & the Retailer where the Retailer’s actions and the impact it would have on our client were discussed. The escalation process was followed through to a meeting with the Code Compliance Officer. At this meeting the Retailer still insisted they had given ‘reasonable notice’. The Retailer threatened the Supplier that they would not be able to supply the Retailer for the next three years.

At this point we raised an official GSCOP dispute under Articles 11(2).

The decision was then reviewed by an independent Senior Director.

Result

The de-list period was extended from 12 weeks to 9 months, this provided our client with sufficient time to find alternative business to replace the lost contract.

The factory remained open with no loss of jobs.

The door remained open for the Supplier to go back into the Retailer in the future.

Value to client

In excess of £3m by extending the de-list period.