PLEASE NOTE: This transcription was created using an AI transcription tool and may not be a 100% accurate representation of the recorded audio.

***

Lucia: [00:00:00] Supermarket loyalty cards. An easy way to grab a discount or a way of unfairly excluding millions of potential shoppers. Welcome to Witch Money. Hello, I'm Lucia Ariano and joining us this week we have a familiar voice on the show. She's senior researcher here, which. Ellie Simmons. Hello Ellie. Hello.

Thanks for having me. Thank you so much for joining us. And we also have a full studio because we are joined by three special guests from the charity Bernardos, and more specifically their youth advisory group. And let's go round the table. Um, now I'll introduce you all. So we've got Ali Cooper. Hi. Hi there.

We've got Ola and rti Al Lua. Hello. Hello. And we've got Becca Woolford. Hi. Hello. Thank you all so much for joining us. Shall we just start with a little introduction to you and, and what you do at Bernardo's?

Ali: Yeah. Um, so I'm Ali. I, uh, work at Bernardo's in the policy team and I focus on child poverty. Um, but we're actually here as part of our fantastic partnership with the co-op, um, which I'll let these guys talk about a bit.

Um, [00:01:00] yeah.

Becca: So, hi, I'm Becca. Um, I am a member of the youth advisory group. So specifically we look at. Influencing change, which is included in our report, which is why we've come in today. And Ola, what do you do at the

Ola: AANAs? I particularly work in the digital subgroup, so that is mainly around creating digital content for the partnership.

But I did have like a transfer into the adv, um, advocacy subgroup, and I was also involved in writing the report.

Lucia: Well, thank you all so much for joining us today. I'm really excited to hear your view on everything we're gonna be talking about, and I'm sure we'll be diving deeper into the report as we go through the show.

Um, Ellie, today we're talking about loyalty cards. Can you just remind us about some of the work you've done here at which on loyalty cards in the past?

Ellie: Yeah, we've done lots of work on loyalty cards. Um. Over the last few years, uh, we've done kind of two strands of work, if you like. One has been looking at [00:02:00] whether or not the prices offered by loyalty cards are, um, genuine savings.

So that's where, um, one price is offered to members of a. Um, supermarket or another retailer's loyalty scheme and another price is offered to everybody else. And we've done a lot of work looking at whether those higher non-member prices are really genuine. We've done a lot of digging into pricing history and we found some examples, um, across supermarkets and other retailers where some of those non non-member prices.

Have looked not to be the kind of usual selling price, um, of a product. So we found lots of examples, um, where those prices don't appear to be, um, very genuine. We've also done a separate strand of work where we've looked at accessibility of those loyalty prices because. There's been a big shift recently in pricing, um, in many retailers, and it used to be that discounts were offered to everybody, [00:03:00] and in particular in the supermarkets.

Now often those discounts are only offered to people who are able or willing to sign up to a. Loyalty

Lucia: card, which is quite frustrating, isn't it? I mean, I just find that just, you know, personally shopping, um, I always run out of storage on my phone, so I don't have the apps of all the supermarkets with my loyalty cards ready to go.

So I'm al I always find myself being caught out and that's just, you know, one very minor. Um, very minor point.

Ellie: Yeah. It's really annoying. It's happened to me. I remember we were, um, traveling to meet a friend through a town I didn't know, and we stopped to, um, buy some essentials for lunch and it was in a Morrison's, I don't normally shop in a Morrisons.

Mm-hmm. And I had to pay a lot more for the meal deal, that meal deal that we were buying than I would've done because I didn't have a. Morrison's loyalty card. Mm-hmm. And I didn't really want a lot Morrison's loyalty card 'cause I don't normally shop in Morrison's. Mm. But it is quite unfair and annoying, um, when you have to pay more than everybody else for something.

Mm-hmm. And you're nodding, do you use loyalty cards? Yeah,

Ali: I, I'm just very much [00:04:00] relating to that hassle of like, trying to find the app for the right thing on your phone. I've, I've often struggled to find the right, right thing and the really annoying bit is that actually it's quite a big saving. Mm-hmm.

Um, so it does make quite a big difference to the shop and just not having the right sign up. Um, can really affect the, the price that you pay.

Ellie: Yeah, and I think those examples are kind of one-offs perhaps. You know, me traveling through a town I don't normally travel through at a shop I don't normally shop in, but we've uncovered the fact that actually some of those, that unfairness, some of that injustice is applied to people in a far more serious way.

So there are millions of people. Across the country who can't sign up to loyalty cards, even if they wanted to, through no fault of their own at all. So through things like their age, their address, or their digital access requirements. So many of these loyalty cards, which as I said, unlock these quite hefty discounts, um, can only be accessed by people often who are over 18, who have a UK [00:05:00] address or residency, or who have.

An email address or access to an app, and we don't think that's fair here at which we want to see retailers opening up those discounts that used to be available to all. We want them to, to still be available to those people who, not by choice, but by their own situation in life. Uh, are unable to access them.

So we want them to be opened up to those people.

Lucia: Mm-hmm. And as you said, it can be huge discounts, you know, especially if you're thinking over the course of a year. So it really is unfair. And can we bring you in now then, from Bernardos? You know, um, how much of a concern is this for you?

Becca: Yeah, it's a massive concern for us because within Bernardos we work with a broad range of children and young people.

Mm-hmm. Um, so. For example, care Leavers or Young Carers, if they're under the age of 18, they're not able to access it. And they're, especially, they're two groups of young people who, if anything, [00:06:00] really need that. Um, because they are at a disadvantage because of. No fault of their own because of the situations they're in.

And so especially someone caring for a older person, being a young carer, you are having to go out and you are actually buying stuff for someone over the age of 18. But you are not able to use that discount because you are under 18.

Lucia: And how, um, widespread a problem is this? How, you know, I'm really interested to know.

'cause it's, it's so useful hearing your insight of the actual people, you know, experiencing these difficulties. You know, how, like, how, how often, you know, might you come across this or, you know, are there any more examples of people who you've encountered with, with similar difficulties?

Ali: Yeah. Um, so I, I think it's quite hard to know the number of.

Young people who would want to access the, the, um, loyalty schemes that can't currently access them. Um, but what we do know, um, and as part of the research that we published last year as part of our, [00:07:00] um, partnership with the co-op, um, we reached out to 50,000 young people, um, uh, with folks for schools and.

We asked them, can you access healthy food in your community? And about a quarter of them, 23% said that they couldn't. Mm-hmm. And that's a lot of young people. And what was really interesting in that research was that, um, the affordability of, um, of, of product and um, including food was, was a real issue for young people.

And that's is something that comes out really clearly. So for that 16, 17-year-old age group, not able to access. Those discounts all of the time at all retailers, that that is a, a serious issue.

Lucia: And Ellie, I'm really interested as well to bring in some of the examples where the prices you found and we found at which without the, the loyalty cards, you know, aren't a very fair price to begin with.

Ellie: Yeah. So, um, we've dug into the pricing history of thousands of products, um, on loyalty price at. Uh, a, a range of [00:08:00] supermarkets and also at Boots and Super jug and found quite a lot of examples that that don't appear to be. Um, entirely genuine. We found quite a lot of examples that have quite questionable non-member prices.

Um, so for example, um, at Tesco, this was last year, we found, um, some beer, some Stella Artis beer, 18 cans. Um, the non-member price was 1699. Mm-hmm. The member price was 13 pounds, so it sounds like a great deal. But that 1699 price had only been in place for seven days before the promotion started. And before that they were 1599.

Um, for, for many weeks. It was the same over at Sainsbury's as well. We looked at some bird's eye chicken nuggets. Non-member price was five pound 50 members got a great savings, so it appeared for four pounds, but they were only five pound 50 for just three weeks before that offer. Launched and before that they were five pounds for everyone.

So there's quite a lot of examples.

Lucia: Mm. Um, like that, that we found Pretty shocking, isn't it? And I know that there's another strand to this [00:09:00] where. It can also be quite difficult to, to work out, um, how to compare prices when you are given these, you know, uh, loyalty card prices. Um, and has that changed at all?

Ellie: So it can be really difficult to compare prices across supermarkets because you might have a loyalty card in one, not a loyalty card in the other, there are so many different types of supermarket discount. There are, um, three for two. Two for one rollback loyalty prices. Um, just a straightforward kind of was now price.

Um, there are so many different discounts that it, it can really confuse people. There's also things like Aldi price match. Um, there are what's called like low everyday prices, which I think just means like it is meant to be a good price. Mm-hmm. But there are so many of these promotions that kind of jump out at you in the supermarket that it is almost impossible to work out.

What the actual, usual normal price of a product is. Um, and very [00:10:00] often the truth is there probably isn't really an actual normal price. A lot of these products, yo-yo, from a, a high price to a low price and, and people paying that low price might think they're getting a discount, but actually. What it is, is that those higher prices are, when they pay the higher prices, those high prices are probably more than they should pay.

And the, the real price is probably somewhere in the middle of those two prices.

Lucia: Mm-hmm. And I was also thinking about the price per, um, which can make it quite difficult to, and you're nodding as well, vacca. Is that something that you've

Becca: experienced? Yeah, so having a mom as a caterer, I quite often go shopping with her and we usually go to the.

Big. Well, the big outlets like Costco or Bookers and stuff. Mm-hmm. There are is a significant difference you can see. Um, but I've now realized when I am shopping, I'm looking at the price per mm-hmm. Because I've got so used to doing it with my [00:11:00] mum. Mm. That I'm looking at the price pairing going. Oh, actually it's better value to buy the bigger one, even if I don't necessarily need it at the time, especially for ambient foods that have a longer shelf life.

It's actually in the long run better to buy that bigger product and pay that little bit more. Because actually when you look at the price per, sometimes you can look at it and it's like, for the smaller one, it's like. 98 p mm-hmm. Per, however, per kilogram pergram. Mm-hmm. Hundred

Lucia: mils or hundred mil,

Becca: any of that.

Whereas when you then look at the bigger one, it's like 63 p. Mm-hmm. And actually when you're looking at that, that's a big difference over time because you are gonna have to go back in and buy that small product again. And so you are then spending more than you necessarily. Need to, I think where they put it in such small text at the bottom, people don't look at it.

Mm-hmm. And I wasn't [00:12:00] really aware of it. I didn't really think of it. I just go grab something off the shelf until I've now look at it more. And it's actually like I. That's really surprising, but it's always not in bold Mm. And such small text that people don't see it.

Lucia: And it's not always standard either, is it?

Mm-hmm. So you might have, you know, 98 people per hundred mil, but then you might have 97. You might, I'm, I'm trying to do the math. I'm trying to do the quick pass, but, but you might have, um, another one that's per 1000 mil. Um, then you might have, um, price per can. Um, so it's actually so difficult. To compare, especially, you know, when you are just shopping, doing your quick shop, you don't necessarily have time to stop and get your calculator out.

So is this something that you talk to many people about? Are you advising people on, on how to to use these price per,

Becca: like sometimes if I'm with my friends and I'm out shopping and they'll look at me like, what are you doing? Because they don't get it. They're like, what are you doing? And I'm like, well [00:13:00] actually, if you look at this bit.

I'm actually saving money because I'm 24. I can't afford to be spending loads and loads of money on a shop that is from if I'm shopping for my family. So, and looking at the price per, but, so a few of my friends now pick up on it because they're like, oh, I didn't even think of that. And I said, I didn't think of it either until I was.

I noticed it. Mm-hmm. Even from working in a supermarket, I didn't really notice it. Mm. 'cause it's not something that we talk about, something

Lucia: we need to shout about, I think. And Ellie, um, the loyalty card prices, do they always have a price per. Figure on as

Ellie: well. Uh, so that's a really interesting question.

They, uh, didn't used to have a price per, so price per is also known as unit pricing. Mm-hmm. Where it's a price per a hundred grams or price per unit so that you can fairly compare prices for products across different products in different ranges. So, um, when we first looked into this a year or [00:14:00] two ago, we found.

That Tesco club card prices in particular didn't have units pricing on them, which meant that it was virtually impossible without a calculator and some significant maths knowledge to actually work out if you were paying, um, a, a better price for something when you're in the aisle. Um. Uh, compared to something else.

So for example, there'd be something on a club card price at Tesco and something not on a club card price. It might be the same product but in different size packs or a slightly different kind of format, you know, can versus bottle or something like that. Um, and unless you've got a degree, a mass in a calculator, it was virtually impossible to know the cheapest.

So. We didn't think that was fair. We didn't think it was right. And we went to Tesco. We asked them to change, um, and actually they did make a change. Mm-hmm. Um, and now you will see that there are unit prices on those Tesco Club card prices and that. Will make it a lot easier for people to compare prices, um, across these different promotions and [00:15:00] different food ranges.

And I know just personally, um, it's made my shopping easier. 'cause I can see at a glance what is the cheapest option when I'm doing my shopping.

Lucia: Mm. Yeah. I've noticed at Tesco as well, and it, it really does help because I use it too, but then saying that, I don't know if say my parents would use them price, like price per unit, but it's something we should be shouting about.

Ellie: It's also something that we've spoken to the competition and markets authority about. Mm-hmm. So they're the kind of watchdog that's in charge of fairer pricing. Um, and we went to them and, and raised this as an issue and, and obviously Tesco have, have done it of their own accord. Um, but the CMA have also, um.

Talked about this issue. Um, and now there are new laws coming into effect, um, in the later part of this year. I think it's October, where it will be, um, the law that these promotions must have unit pricing on them. So our campaigning has helped get a new law on that, which hopefully will make it a lot easier for people to compare prices.

That is a

Lucia: huge win. I can

Ellie: see you

Lucia: nodding ally. Um, [00:16:00] and did unit pricing come up in, in, in the report? Is it something that you've been working with? Uh,

Ali: no, no. Unit pricing isn't really the focus of the report, but I do really resonate with that fairness point. Um, like making it fair for shoppers to be able to get a discounted product.

And for us that's like a really important point. Um, we just think it's unfair that 16, 17 year olds can't access some of those discounted prices and. That's something that we think could be quite a quick win. And um, obviously supermarkets can change their practices, um, and that's exactly what we want 'em to do.

And we, we think that could be a really, really like, direct way of helping young people with savings in their pocket.

Lucia: Mm-hmm. Well, shall we get back to kind of the crux of the show then, which is that. Um, and talk about what we think should change, or, um, where should we start? Um, Ali, do you wanna start us off?

Ali: Yeah. So, um, we published this report last year, a Recipe for Success, and, um, one of the key recommendations in that was looking at 16 [00:17:00] and 17 year olds and whether they could access, um, discounted prices in supermarkets. Um, so, um. We called on all retailers to, um, extend their retail discount schemes to 16, 17 year olds.

Um, and we actually wrote to, well, the youth advisory group, um, wrote to, um, supermarket CEOs, um, about this. Um, and, um, yeah, we got a, a fairly poor response to be honest.

Ola: Yeah. As Becca said, we did. Get quite a few, um, good responses, but majority of them were quite disappointing. So we think the next step of action is to contact the government and see if this is something they, they could like include in the national food strategy for like, to make sure that supermarket are really extended the, um, loyalty CAT schemes to 16 to 17 year olds.

That's

Lucia: really interesting. I'm. I'm quite surprised that so many supermarkets, um, didn't come back with, with a positive response. I mean, did they have. How did they justify that?

Ali: [00:18:00] Yeah, we got quite a range of, of responses really? Yeah. So some just didn't respond to us. Mm-hmm. Um, and we did send a chaser, um, uh, but some haven't responded to us.

Um, some talked about the fact that some promotions are to do with alcohol, um, and that affects, um, their ability to offer discounts. We're not really convinced about that one, are we? No, I'm not really

Lucia: convinced by that one either, actually. The reason

Ali: being because, um, obviously you can tailor. Um, discounts to different audiences, so we're not quite convinced about that one.

And then we, um, another, um, retailer said, um, that it was to do with data protection. Um, however, we're also not quite convinced about that because generally speaking, um, when someone is 13 or over, um, they can consent to, um, having their data shared. So, um, I think our sort of overall approach with this is like.

We'd like to have a conversation, um, with the supermarkets about this. Um, we think it's a really important issue and if there are blockers in the way we'd like to be involved, um, with solving them and, and making sure that young [00:19:00] people can ask access discounted prices.

Ellie: I think it's worth saying as well that there are retailers out there who do offer loyalty discounts to, um, under eighteens and some under sixteens as well.

So there were obviously some retailers out there who. Think it can be done and are in fact doing it. So it would indicate that those blockers maybe aren't as blocking as they might first

Lucia: appear. And can we hear about some of those kind of shining examples in this situation?

Ellie: Yeah, so, um, both boots and super drug, um, they, they obviously offer kind of pharmaceuticals and toiletries and health and beauty products.

They have, um, much lower restrictions on their loyalty cards. Um, I think it's 30 and you have to be to sign up to them. Um, so that means all those. Um, people 13 and over can access big discounts at boots and super jug, um, like many of the rest of us can. So that seems more fair. Um, then there's also the co-op which allows, um.

16 and overs to have their own card and then under sixteens to have a card if it's signed up for by a parent or [00:20:00] guardian. So that's a really good example as well. So there, there are, um, retailers out there who, who are doing this and are doing it well. Um, there are also obviously other retailers who don't have loyalty discounts at all and just.

Let everybody access their low prices. Well, that would be regardless the ideal situation. Yes. Well,

Lucia: exactly. So I suppose, I mean, is, is that something then that, that we are campaigning for here at which

Ellie: we are campaigning? We recognize that, um, loyalty discounts can provide people with good savings and we also know that people do like them.

Um, so what we want to see is those. Loyalty, discounts accessible to everyone who wants to access them. And the people that cannot access them for reasons of no fault of their own. We want them to be able to access them and we want the supermarkets to come up with the solution. Um, they are in the best place to, to know what these blockers are and to.

Unblock them, and that's what we want. Mm. And and what do you see as next steps? We've done lots of work behind the scenes, lots of meetings with them, letters to them asking them to do this. And now what [00:21:00] we're asking is for, um, anyone that's affected by this or anyone that thinks it's unfair actually.

'cause you don't have to be directly affected by it to see the injustice in it. We are asking people to tag supermarkets in our social posts, to show to those supermarkets that it is unfair and that people do care. 'cause I don't think at the moment the supermarkets are hearing loud enough that people really care about it and people think it's unfair.

And so that's what we're asking, um, anyone listening to do is to tag, um, your supermarket in our social posts to let them know that, that we care and that we want some change.

Lucia: Thank you, Ellie. Super important. And we can pop a link to our social channels in the description of today's show. Um, and from your point of view too, I mean, what can we do to help, you know, how can we get involved?

Ali: Yeah, so I, I think, um, it's about share sharing those stories. Um, so Becca mentioned, um, care experience young people. So for example, if you're living on your own for the first time mm-hmm. And you have to go and do the weekly shop. Um, you know, [00:22:00] you can't get those discounted prices. So I think it's about telling those stories and how that's not fair.

That's really important. Um, and I think, yeah, sort of a call out to, to young people. I. Who are being affected to, to speak up about this? Mm. Um, because I think it's not currently enough of a priority for the other supermarkets to take action.

Ellie: I would second that. I think the more we hear from people that this really affects about their kind of personal stories, about how it makes a difference, would make a huge, um, impact in how powerful we can be when asking the supermarkets to make a change.

So it'd be great to hear. Mm-hmm. Any stories.

Lucia: And would you say that, um, you know, there are some people that maybe don't realize that they're affected by this. Um, and, and obviously that in itself is a problem too.

Ali: Yeah. Um, so in some of the focus groups we did for our, our research, like it did come up, so some people were saying, they did mention a discount.

Schemes and sometimes they weren't able to access them. Um, but there probably are quite a lot of young people who just aren't aware. And I don't know if you guys have [00:23:00] got friends or, or people you know, um, who, who might, um, be affected by this, but maybe aren't quite aware. The fact that they can't get access to a discount scheme.

Ola: Um, yeah, I would say I do have friends that were like in um, semi independent homes, but at the time it was more of like cutting to like budget and manage what we've been given at the age of 17. So like subconsciously where we do go to supermarkets, we're mainly just like saying, oh, which one is cheaper?

Even if it's not something really want, but we're just trying to save up. But. Obviously we wouldn't have it at the back of our mind that maybe we've been, you know, the prices have been unfair. Mm-hmm. Because we didn't see it that way. We just saw it as get what we think is best for us now and just leave it as that.

But you know, as I got involved in the partnership and focusing million foods, I think it has really like. Come to Shine to see like, um, young people, actually 16 to 17 are not being treated rightly because the prices are horrendous. Like it's just, they're actually [00:24:00] like, now that the cost of living crisis has increased, more young people can see that things that they'll be able to normally afford, like on a daily basis is no longer affordable.

So, yeah.

Ellie: And I think the, the point as well is that this really hits the kind of most vulnerable in society in some ways. Mm-hmm. And the people who are hardest hit by price sizes are now the ones that are paying. So, you know, someone going in, like you've mentioned, you know, a a 17-year-old or 16-year-old young carer would have to pay more in, um, many of the big supermarkets for their shopping than someone on a, on a huge kind of city salary.

It doesn't seem, it doesn't seem at all, at all. Um, and I think that's where the kind of crux of the injustices is really not fair.

Lucia: And, you know, we, we mentioned earlier, you know, kind of how widespread is this injustice? Um, are there, are there any kind of, any stats you can give us to, to paint a, a picture to, to help our listeners paint a picture of, of, of, you know, how bad this problem really

Becca: is?

So, food insecurities is actually highest when the head of the household is between the ages of 16 to 24 mm. [00:25:00] So that obviously 16 to 18 gap is significant in that. They won't be able to access it and they are the most food insecure. Mm-hmm. Um, they showed that two in 10 younger households. Classed as Food in Insecure compared to one in 10 households for all ages.

Lucia: And you know, in an ideal world, uh, do you think we could ever live in a society again where there weren't loyalty schemes altogether? I.

Ali: So loyalty schemes are clearly something that supermarkets are, are using, and what we're calling for now is for them to be equalized. So that's a really tangible action that supermarkets can do right now that would affect the, the, the prices that young people are paying here, 16, 17 years old.

So, um, yeah, I, I think we, we, a part of our campaign is getting supermarkets to change the current schemes, um, and. That has to be a top priority because the current system is just not fair.

Lucia: So what we were talking about earlier before the show then, [00:26:00] Becca, about, you know, those days, those shining days where meal deals you didn't have to have a loyalty card for.

I feel like we might not see that again.

Becca: Yeah, so there were, I think it's also important that actually the cost of living crisis has affected supermarkets and the inflation in prices. But we can still look back at the time where mild deals weren't even on a loyalty scheme. So it was accessible for everyone.

Mm-hmm. And that's giving. Uh, for example, those 16 to 18 year olds, that's their lunch. Mm. And you are limiting actually, do they have that to spend on lunch? If, if you've not got it. Sometimes meal deals, if you want, if you get what you want to get, it can end up at six, seven pounds. Mm. Rather than, usually the meal deal is around three pound mark, so you are paying double and you never used to have to do that.

Mm-hmm. So it's looking back and getting those supermarkets to look back and see. [00:27:00] Is there a reason behind why we've needed to put them on there? Because actually probably sold more in the past of meal deals because it was so accessible for everyone. Mm-hmm. I mean, that's a

Lucia: good, that's a really good question.

How does, how, how are supermarkets justifying, uh, bringing. Loyalty cards just in, in, in so strongly loyalty prices.

Ellie: I mean, that is a really good question. Um, I, I don't think I've heard any kind of direct justification from any of the supermarkets, but kind of reading around the issue and, and knowing the kind of wider.

Landscape. They earn a lot of money from our data. So it's all about data. It's all about the data that we hand over. Every time we swipe that loyalty card, they know what we're buying, they know when we're buying it, where we're buying it, how much we're spending, what we're, how we're paying for it, et cetera, et cetera.

And that data's worth loads of money. Mm-hmm. They then use that data to make themselves profit by knowing, um, you know, where to market products, how to price them, [00:28:00] where to position things in the aisles, all of these things. So. So our data is worth money. A lot of money, increasing amounts of money, particularly in today's world.

And that's why the supermarkets are doing it. I don't think that's their kind of public justification. Mm-hmm. But that's definitely why the supermarkets are doing it, and I think. Um, what Becca said about meal deals is really interesting 'cause it's also worth mentioning that, you know, you get loyalty prices on, on kind of branded, maybe kind of slightly fun items, you know, like your Coca-Cola and your kind of fancy yogurts, Sato, as you mentioned earlier.

Exactly. Yeah. You know, stuff that, that maybe some people could do without, right? Mm-hmm. Um. But you also have loyalty prices on really fundamental stuff. You have it on bread, you have it on butter, you have it on cheese, you also have it on things like, um, plasters, cow poll, baby food, things like that. So things that really, really affect, um, you know, the really essentials that that young carers or younger [00:29:00] people or, or any of us really, um, you know, need to buy to make our lives function properly.

And, and I think. Some of those discounts. On some of those types of products, you, you could question why they're necessary.

Lucia: Mm. And looking forward then, I mean, is there a kind of timeline or where we can hope to see some change or is, you know, is there a timeline that you, you'd like to see some change within?

Ali: Yeah, so the government are applying to publish their national food strategy. They've not given an exact time frame on that, but we think it's happening fairly soon. Um, and that's a really important moment, um, because I think the government needs to recognize in that. That there are a lot of actors who are responsible for making the food system better and making it work for young people.

So I think that's a really key moment where, where hopefully supermarkets can play their part, um, and end this unfair. Um. Policy in, in their existing schemes.

Lucia: And for our listeners who might want to find out more about the work you do, where can they [00:30:00] find you online or out about even?

Ali: Yeah, so you can find out more about the partnership by, um, looking up co-op and Bernardo's on Google.

Um, and we've got a dedicated webpage. Um, I dunno if any, any other tips for finding out about what Youth Advisory Group get up to? You wanna share? Oh,

Ola: yeah. For the digital resources, you can find it on banners uk on TikTok and on

Lucia: Instagram. Amazing. Thank you. Well, thank you all so much for joining us. And just to reiterate, Ellie, what can we do if we wanna help and get involved,

Ellie: uh, show the supermarkets that you care, that you think it's unjust, that you think it's unfair, and you can do that by, um, tagging them in our social posts.

Thank you all so much for joining

Lucia: us today. Thank you.

Ellie: Thank you. Thank

Lucia: you. Thanks for listening to this podcast from which the UK's consumer champion. You can find plenty more advice about what we discuss today in the show notes. There you'll also find a link to become a witch member for 50% off the usual price [00:31:00] and offer exclusively available to you are podcast listeners joining, which will not only give you.

Access to our product reviews, our app, one-to-one, personalized buying advice, and every issue of which magazine across the year, but you'll also be helping us to make live simpler, fairer, and safer for everyone. Don't forget to hit, subscribe wherever you are listening. That way you'll be notified whenever we release a new episode of which money, which shorts.

Or any other podcasts that we make for you, and if you want to get in touch with us, then follow us on social media at which UK or drop us an email to podcast at which co uk See you next time.