Healthy budget food items not on the menu for shoppers at smaller Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s supermarkets
Supermarket giants are failing to stock healthy budget ranges in their small stores, a consumer watchdog has found.
As millions struggle with the cost of living crisis – with food inflation at its highest in 45 years – Which? found those who live near smaller convenience stores are paying an even higher price.
Essential budget range items are hardly ever stocked in these smaller shops, even though two-thirds (66%) of people earning under £21,000 shop there at least once a week.
It means people who have low mobility or no access to public or private transport to reach a larger supermarket are potentially being forced to buy more expensive foods or go without entirely.
In a mystery shop of 123 Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco stores, Which? sent researchers to check the availability of a list of roughly 29 everyday budget items – including dried pasta, tinned tomatoes, fresh fruit and vegetables, minced meat and tinned fish.
On average, the biggest supermarket stores had 87% of the products Which? was looking for, or an equivalent product in the same range.
Across all four big brands (Asda, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury’s), budget range minced meat, tuna and ketchup had the worst stock on average despite the likelihood that other versions of these products would be much more expensive.
Yet in small Tesco Express, Sainsbury’s Local and Morrisons Daily convenience stores, the budget line items on the list were available less than 1% of the time.
Of the 35 smaller stores visited, 30 of them did not stock any budget items. The remaining five only stocked one budget range item each.
What the supermarkets said
A spokesperson for Tesco said Express stores do not have the shelf space to accommodate all product ranges available in larger stores.
They said: “We use our expert knowledge of local customers’ shopping habits to make sure the ranges in each store best meet local tastes and needs.
“We are disappointed to see this highly flawed study from Which? that does not accurately reflect the role of convenience stores and does not provide any helpful information for customers who are shopping on a budget.”
A Morrisons spokesperson said: “Our Savers range has never been more important to our customers.
“In the last few months we have cut the prices of over 50% of the products, broadened the range by more than 10%, and we are currently updating and improving the packaging.
“We believe that our customers appreciate the value, breadth, quality and availability of the range more than ever.”
Sainsbury’s has also been contacted for comment.
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The high-priority areas
As part of the research, Which? included three parliamentary constituencies considered a high priority – where people are the most vulnerable to food insecurity in the UK – and where more than half of supermarkets are small stores.
These were Don Valley in Yorkshire, North West Durham, in the North East, and Rhondda, in Wales.
Across these three areas, Which? made 12 visits to four small stores and found that none of the items on the list of budget essentials were available in any of these stores.
Sue Davies, Which? head of food policy, said: “At a time when millions of people are struggling to put food on the table, it’s shocking that budget range foods are not available to people who can’t get to a large supermarket.
“Everyone should have access to affordable nutritious food no matter where they live.
“Which? is now calling on supermarket bosses to ensure budget ranges that support a healthy diet are available in convenience stores, especially in areas where people are struggling the most.
“They must also make it easier for all customers to work out which items offer the best value for money by making sure their pricing is clear and easily comparable.”
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In 2019, nine men were jailed for raping and abusing two teenage girls living in a children’s home in Bradford.
One of the victims, Fiona Goddard, says more than 50 men raped her.
When the government began to talk about offering councils money for local inquiries, Fiona hoped Bradford would be one of the first to take up the offer. But there didn’t seem to be much enthusiasm.
The council was quick to point out that there had already been an independent case review into Fiona’s case, along with four other victims.
This, then, was Fiona’s first reasoning for wanting a national inquiry: The council felt it had done all that needed to be done. Fiona didn’t.
The Independent review, published in July 2021, found that while in the children’s home, Fiona “went missing almost on a daily basis”. The police attitude was that she could look after herself – she was “street-wise”.
There was “agreement by all agencies that Fiona was either at risk of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) or actively being sexually abused and exploited”. But “this was not addressed by any single agency”.
And “when Fiona became pregnant at the age of 15, there was little curiosity or enquiry who the father was”.
So, obvious failings were discovered.
The predictable response was that lessons had been learned and new processes put in place. But no one seemed to be held accountable.
Grooming gangs timeline: What happened, what inquiries there were and how Starmer was involved
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Grooming gangs: What happened?
Ms Goddard told Sky News: “In my serious case review she [Jane Booth, the independent chair] found seven incidences at least, in them records that she found, of them not reporting sexual abuse or rape or assault, from as young as eight years old, and one of the incidences I literally turned up covered in blood and they didn’t report it.
“That is not just misunderstanding a crime, that is making intentional decisions not to report the sexual abuse of a child.”
She adds: “Let’s not forget, these people still work within social services and the police force.”
Not only did this Independent review not satisfy Fiona, but it also didn’t begin to reflect the levels and scale of abuse Fiona had experienced outside of Bradford.
‘I literally turned up covered in blood and they didn’t report it,’ Fiona says
Asked where she was trafficked to, Fiona rattles off a list of cities.
“Blackburn, Rotherham, Rochdale, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Oldham – never Telford, I’d never even heard of Telford until it all came out if I’m honest – Nottingham, Oxford.”
Then she remembers she didn’t go to Oxford – men from Oxford came to her – but the point is made.
Local enquiries can’t possibly begin to explore the networks of men who traffic women, often down routes of drug trafficking being done by the same gangs.
Bradford Council told Sky News it contributed to the national Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and published more than 70 reports where child sexual exploitation was discussed and has implemented findings from the independent local review which included Fiona’s case.
Fiona believes there are numerous connections leading back to Bradford – but victims from each city often believe their abusers are at the centre of it.
We’ve spoken to grooming victims across the country, and in 2022, a case was reopened in Humberside after a Sky News investigation, where we found diary entries, texts, photos, and school reports all indicating that teenage victims had been abused.
Read more on this story:
Telford child abuse victims speak out
What we know about grooming gangs, from the data
The women who blew whistle on Rotherham
One of them was “Anna”, who also wants a national inquiry. She believes there is a national pattern of police forces not believing victims or even criminalising them instead.
Obtaining her own police records using a Subject Access Request (SAR), Anna found officers’ attitudes towards her were similar to what we heard with Fiona in Bradford, blaming her abuse and injuries on “lifestyle choices of her own”.
Anna said: “Every time I look at my Subject Access Request, I still think it’s shocking.
“It was the same sort of terminology – lifestyle choices, liar, attention seeker, and the majority of it was negative.
“It was really rare that I’d come across something where they were actually listening or they were concerned.”
Humberside Police told us: “As the investigation is active, it is imperative we protect its integrity; as such are unable to comment on aspects of the investigation as this could impact or jeopardise any criminal or judicial proceedings.”
But it is years now since Anna first reported her abuse, and she believes the police have left it too late to gather evidence.
She told Sky News: “I think it’s either happening everywhere, or young people have been taken everywhere.
“I think the attitudes of the professionals, the police, social services, from what I’ve heard and seen, they seem very similar in every area.”
The government-commissioned rapid review by Baroness Casey is due to be published next week and is expected to call for a national inquiry into grooming gangs.
Like Anna and Fiona, many victims will welcome Sir Keir Starmer’s early response accepting the recommendation.
They will want the inquiry to probe into the operations of the perpetrators – who they are and how they are connected.
But they will also want clear accountability of the people and organisations who failed to act when they reported their abuse – and an understanding of why, so often, authorities fail to protect these vulnerable girls.
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