Milk and pig contract duties set limits on adjudicator enforcement
The adjudicator can discuss concerns confidentially, but a formal investigation and financial remedies depend on the statutory complaint process.
1Summary
The Fair Dealing Obligations (Milk) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/537) and the Fair Dealing Obligations (Pigs) Regulations 2025 (SI 2025/610) impose contract duties on business purchasers, not a general duty to accept every producer concern. The source identifies Richard Thompson as Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator. His invitation to contact his office is separate from the statutory route to investigation, compensation or a civil penalty. The regulations apply across the United Kingdom.
2What changes
- Milk purchasers must use compliant written contracts covering matters including price, collection, variation and dispute resolution. The milk regulations generally prohibit volume-based tiered pricing in an exclusive contract. The pig regulations amended that rule: the prohibition does not apply where the producer has an ownership interest in the purchaser and the purchaser has the specified internal democratic structure.
- Pig purchasers must use a written contract with terms covering pricing, quantities, payment and dispute resolution. The pig regulations require the contract to include a duty on the purchaser to act in good faith. A qualifying seller may give written notice disapplying the regulations for specified purchases or a specified period.
- The milk regulations began applying to new contracts on 09 July 2024; their transition for existing contracts ended on 09 July 2025. The main pig contract duties commenced on 13 August 2025, with the transition ending on 13 August 2026. Under the pig regulations, purchases taken into possession before the transition date under contracts already in force before commencement are outside the main duties. The pig instrument’s introductory provisions and milk amendment commenced earlier, on the day after it was made.
- An informal concern can inform the office’s work and, where appropriate, prompt discussion with a purchaser. It does not itself open a statutory investigation. The contact guidance says a producer normally must first use the contract’s dispute procedure and wait; exceptions include where there is no written contract or no compliant dispute procedure.
- For a relevant formal complaint, the adjudicator notifies the purchaser, can require evidence and determines whether there has been a breach. The regulations permit compensation, a civil penalty or both; the ASCA guidance states that the penalty is capped. The parties can make representations and have specified appeal rights to the First-tier Tribunal. The powers do not set the milk or pig price.
3Who is affected
The duties bind business purchasers of cow’s milk and, subject to the opt-out, pigs bought from qualifying sellers, including producers and certain aggregators. Producers benefit from compliant terms but bear the commercial risk of raising a dispute. In its second annual report, the office says a processor revised a proposed milk contract after an anonymous concern about restrictions on surplus sales and tiered pricing. The report does not publish the contract wording or the farmer’s financial gain.
The contact guidance promises confidentiality for the in-confidence channel, but the office’s privacy notice permits personal-data sharing with the Groceries Code Adjudicator on related matters and disclosure where required by information-access law. It also says data processing for a statutory investigation cannot be stopped by withdrawing consent. The guidance does not describe a dedicated remedy for retaliation solely because a concern was raised; a purchaser’s conduct may nevertheless breach an applicable contract duty.
The second annual report records formal complaints and in-confidence referrals. It says no formal enforcement powers were exercised in the second reporting period; the formal complainant withdrew after the processor amended the contract. These outcomes do not establish sector-wide profitability gains. The government’s egg-sector consultation response proposes developing draft regulations; Thompson’s office describes egg enforcement as potential, not an existing power.
4Key dates
- 09 July 2024: The milk regulations began applying to new milk purchase contracts.
- 09 July 2025: The milk regulations’ transition for existing contracts ended.
- 13 August 2025: The main pig regulations began applying to new pig purchase contracts.
- 13 August 2026: The pig regulations’ transition for existing contracts ended.
- 03 November 2026: The adjudicator published the second annual report.