Our Partners

Lidl is committed to sourcing high quality fresh meat, poultry, fruit and veg from British farms. We work closely with Red Tractor to ensure that our British meat, poultry, fruit and veg is responsibly sourced to strict food hygiene, animal welfare and environmental standards, with every pack traceable to the farm of origin. This guarantees our customers a fresh, locally sourced, high quality range of meat and poultry at excellent value.

UTZ Certified is a sustainability programme for cocoa, coffee and tea. It provides education in good farming practices and shows farmers how they can produce cocoa more professionally, effectively, productively and sustainably.

Additionally, farmers are also educated in business management, health and safety maintenance and environmental management. The aim of the programme is to enable farmers to ask for a better price for a better product. To succeed in sustainable cocoa farming, the smallholders commit themselves to upholding the UTZ Certified Code of Conduct.

The RSPCA Assured label makes it easy to recognise products from animals that have had a better life, so you can feel good about your choice when shopping and eating out.

If there’s an RSPCA Assured label on the packaging of the eggs, fish and meat that you buy you know the farms – and everyone else involved in the animals’ lives – have been assessed and meet RSPCA animal welfare standards.

Fairtrade’s goal is the social and economic development of disadvantaged communities in developing countries through terms of trade. In 59 countries over 7 million people – farmers, plantation workers and their families – benefit from Fairtrade practices. By supplying to the Fairtrade market the producers gain stability and earn money for a better standard of living, education and medical care.

The Fairtrade mark is an independent consumer label that appears on products as a guarantee that disadvantaged producers in the developing world are getting a better deal. For a product to display the Fairtrade mark it must meet international Fairtrade standards. The producer organisation receives a minimum price that covers the cost of sustainable production and an extra premium that is invested in social or economic development projects. 

Learn more about the partnership between Lidl GB and Fairtrade here.

The Marine Stewardship Council, or MSC, is an independent, global non-profit organisation that was formed in 1997 to find a solution to the problem of overfishing. Many oceans are so heavily overfished that the fish reserves are depleting rapidly throughout the world. This damages the marine ecosystem as well as the world fishing industry.

The MSC has developed a global environmental standard according to which worldwide fisheries can be evaluated. If they meet the criteria for this standard, they are allowed to use the blue MSC seal on their products.

The MSC seal is a guarantee that fish used in a particular product has been caught in accordance with environmental fishing standards.

The Rainforest Alliance ‘green frog’ certification seal indicates that a farm, forest or tourism enterprise has been audited to standards that require environmental, social or economic sustainability. The standards are built on the following principles of sustainable farming:

• Biodiversity conservation
• Improved livelihoods and human well-being
• Natural resource conservation
• Effective planning and farm management systems  

Due to the wide-scale, undercover nature of modern slavery we recognise that a collaborative approach is essential to effectively eradicating the issue. In 2016, we joined Stronger Together, a multi-stakeholder initiative dedicated to tackling modern slavery across both UK and global supply chains.

Stronger Together provides access to best practice resources and toolkits, specialist training workshops and the opportunity for us to collaborate with the industry on high risk areas and policy positions. All of our first tier suppliers are attending Stronger Together training to ensure they are supported to spot the signs of modern slavery in their supply chains. 

Stronger Together has also rolled out modern slavery training across our South African wine suppliers.

Lidl GB have signed up to the Better Retail, Better World pledge which includes our commitment to embed by 2020 a policy that no worker in the supply chain should pay for a job, to provide a safeguard against modern slavery. We attend the BRC’s Ethical Labour Working Group which shares best practice on tacking modern slavery and the responsible use of labour providers.

Sedex aims to drive improvements and convergence in responsible sourcing practices. Sedex enables us to share and exchange data, helping to manage social and environmental risks within our supply chain, and continually improve working conditions and promote responsible sourcing. 

An initiative that supports more than 1,800 retailers, importers and brands in improving the world of work in factories and farms. Together with other BSCI members, we monitor compliance with all internationally recognised social standards throughout our supply chain. 

A collective response to growing concerns regarding unethical practices within the global seafood market.

SEA Alliance

A collaboration of UK seafood companies, retailers and stakeholders established the SEA Alliance to enable pre-competitive action. The forum enables the sharing of information on emerging issues, agree best practice solutions and provide a frequent discussion space for participants.

The Spanish Ethical Trade Forum is a collaboration between retailers, suppliers and growers to improve working conditions in the Spanish produce sector.

Through this forum we specifically focus our targets and actions on the fruit and vegetable supply chains that supply Lidl GB.

We support local workshops which bring together Spanish growers to share good practice and discuss how to improve labour standards for agricultural workers in southern Spain.

FNET is a supplier-led initiative aiming to use the collective leverage of suppliers and retailers to bring about positive change in global food supply chains working conditions by providing guidance, resources, training and opportunities for collaboration. Lidl GB is on the governance group of FNET, a group of suppliers and retailers whose ambition is to improve human rights in global food supply chains through a common approach to managing ethical trade.

In May 2017 we announced our new national charity partner, the NSPCC, as chosen by our employees. As part of our three year partnership we’ve set ourselves the challenging goal of raising £3m. These funds will enable us to help keep a generation of children safe from abuse and neglect.

We've supported STV's Children's Appeal since its launch in 2011, raising over £300,000 to help the 220,000 children and young people in Scotland living in poverty.

The Appeal is especially important to us and our colleagues as it aims to support some of the most vulnerable and underprivileged children in Scotland, creating a positive impact in those communities we serve.