Partial Business & Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) – Price Controls on Essential Foods

Executive summary

This partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) sits alongside the consultation exploring the potential introduction of price controls on essential food items and its potential design and mechanisms. This BRIA reflects the best available information at the time, outlining existing evidence and potential impacts of a food price control scheme as set out in the consultation. It also highlights a number of areas where additional evidence will be required in future impact assessments.

This partial BRIA, together with the development of additional relevant impact assessments, further evidence gathering, and stakeholder engagement, will inform the final BRIA required to support any future legislation in this area.

Issue and why it needs to be addressed

This partial Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) accompanies the Scottish Government consultation on the potential introduction of statutory price controls on selected essential food items sold by large supermarket chains in Scotland.

The consultation forms part of the Scottish Government's wider approach to addressing cost-of-living pressures. While action is being taken across a range of areas including social security, transport, childcare and household costs, many households continue to experience significant pressure from food prices, which have increased substantially over recent years and have risen faster than household incomes.

Food affordability pressures are experienced across society but can have a disproportionate impact on lower-income households and those at greater risk of food insecurity, who spend a larger proportion of their household budget on food. Looking ahead, uncertainty in global food systems, energy markets, climate impacts and geopolitical developments means there is a risk of further food price shocks.

The Scottish Government is therefore consulting on intervention in food prices and what form that could take. This partial BRIA outlines the available evidence, the potential impacts on businesses and consumers, and the areas where further evidence is required before any decisions are taken.

Intended outcomes

The objective being explored is to improve the affordability of food for a selection of essential food items, particularly for those on lower incomes. Our approach should also support a healthy and balanced diet.

As part of this work, we wish to ensure that any future approach addresses the issue of food affordability in a way that protects Scotland’s primary producers in our farming and fishing communities.

The Scottish Government also wishes to understand whether price controls could help protect households from future food price shocks. In developing any intervention, consideration will also be given to nutrition and health outcomes, food security, child poverty, economic impacts and the wider Good Food Nation ambitions.

A key consideration throughout policy development will be achieving an appropriate balance between improving affordability for consumers and avoiding unacceptable impacts on food producers, retailers, supply chains and wider economic and business activity.

Options

The consultation seeks views on whether statutory price controls should be introduced on selected essential food items sold by large supermarkets in Scotland.

The options under consideration include:

• Option 1: Business As Usual (Do nothing), whereby existing market arrangements continue, and no additional intervention is introduced.
• Option 2: Introducing statutory price controls for a defined basket of essential food items, with the precise scope, products covered, level of price intervention and implementation arrangements to be determined through consultation and further analysis.

The Partial BRIA provides an initial high-level assessment of Option 2. Following consultation and stakeholder engagement, a fuller assessment of this option and other viable alternative approaches, including their expected costs, benefits, effectiveness, and impacts on businesses and consumers, will be included in the Final BRIA should it be required to support future legislation in this area.

There are alternative approaches to addressing the issue of food affordability, particularly for those on lower incomes. The Government welcomes views through consultation on the issue of addressing food affordability more generally.

The consultation is intended to test the rationale for intervention, including whether statutory price controls are an appropriate and proportionate response to food affordability challenges, and to gather evidence on the relative costs, benefits and risks of introducing statutory price controls (Option 2), as well as the different ways any such intervention could be implemented, before any decisions are taken.

Sectors affected

Any future intervention is likely to have implications across the following groups. These can be categorised as those that may be directly affected by a statutory price control scheme and those that may be indirectly affected through wider potential impacts on the food supply system.

For the purposes of this consultation, the pricing obligations in the proposed scheme would apply only to qualifying grocery retailers. These are proposed to be larger businesses with more than 250 employees, turnover above £250 million, and where the majority of turnover is from grocery sales.

Directly affected groups

• Consumers.
• Food retail businesses within the scope of any intervention, particularly large supermarkets and online grocery retailers.
• Local authorities and any organisations responsible for compliance, monitoring or enforcement activities.
• Third sector organisations, consumer groups and public health stakeholders.

Indirectly affected groups

• Food producers, including farmers, crofters and fishers.
• Food manufacturers, processors, distributors and wholesalers.
• Businesses that purchase food as part of their operations, including hospitality and catering businesses, which may experience changes in food costs, product availability or sourcing practices.
• Smaller grocery retailers and convenience stores.
• Packaging manufacturers and suppliers.
• Logistics, transport and distribution businesses.

The scale and nature of impacts will depend on the model of intervention taken forward and the final design of any statutory price control scheme. While the proposed eligibility criteria are intended to avoid smaller grocery retailers being directly captured by any scheme, potential knock-on effects for these businesses and other indirectly affected sectors will be considered as part of the assessment of wider market impacts.

Engagement completed, ongoing and planned

Policy development has been informed by initial engagement across the Scottish Government and with stakeholders involved in food policy, consumer interests, poverty and inequality, public health, agriculture, food production and retail. This engagement has highlighted the importance of improving food affordability while understanding potential impacts on consumers, businesses and the wider food supply chain. The proposals were presented to the Regulatory Review Group (RRG) on 20 June 2026 as part of ongoing policy development and stakeholder engagement.

The Scottish Government has also reviewed evidence from Scotland, the wider UK and international examples of food price interventions, alongside evidence on food inflation, household expenditure and food insecurity.

This public consultation represents the next stage of engagement. Responses will inform future policy development, with further targeted engagement planned with consumers, producers, retailers, representative bodies, local authorities and other stakeholders to support any future proposals and the development of a final BRIA.

Anticipated impacts (intended and unintended, positive and negative) and mitigating actions

The principal intended effect of any future intervention is to improve the affordability of food for a selection of essential food items, particularly for those on lower incomes. There may also be wider benefits through reducing food insecurity, supporting healthier dietary choices and contributing to wider child poverty and Good Food Nation ambitions.

However, intervention in food pricing could also result in unintended consequences. Potential risks include additional costs and administrative burdens for retailers, impacts on food producers and other businesses across the supply chain, changes in product availability, and effects on competition within the grocery market. The scale and nature of these impacts will depend on the final design of any scheme.

The consultation seeks evidence on these potential impacts, including effects on consumers, businesses, rural and island communities, public health, food security and the wider economy. Potential mitigating actions under consideration include careful selection of products within scope, proportionate implementation and compliance arrangements, ongoing monitoring of impacts across the supply chain, and consideration of measures to minimise adverse impacts on primary producers and other affected businesses, and consideration of whether the scope of qualifying businesses should be expanded to improve coverage and accessibility of any future intervention in rural and island communities.

Our intention is to ensure that the business impact assessment, informed by consultation responses and ongoing stakeholder engagement, informs the final policy design.

Enforcement/ compliance

As policy development is at an early stage, no decisions have been taken on the final compliance and enforcement regime. The consultation seeks views on appropriate compliance arrangements and the proportionality of any enforcement measures. Illustrative draft provisions propose that local authorities would be responsible for enforcement, supported by a compliance notice process intended to encourage compliance and provide an opportunity to rectify issues before offences arise.

Recommendations/ implementation plans

No preferred option has been identified at this stage. The consultation is intended to gather evidence on the costs, benefits, risks and practical implications of food price controls, alongside potential alternative approaches. Consultation responses and further stakeholder engagement will inform Ministers' decisions on next steps, including any future legislative proposals, implementation arrangements and supporting guidance.

Evaluation and monitoring of implementation/ review of BRIA

The consultation seeks views on how the effectiveness of any future food price cap scheme should be monitored and evaluated. Should the policy be taken forward, a final BRIA will be prepared to reflect consultation findings, further analysis and stakeholder engagement. The illustrative draft provisions also include a requirement for a statutory review of the operation of any scheme, with decisions on its continuation informed by evidence of its effectiveness and impacts.