The UK government has confirmed a law change affecting major supermarkets including Aldi, Asda, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Lidl, and Morrisons. The new regulations aim to help shoppers make informed choices by requiring transparent information, especially regarding pricing.
The Labour Party stated: "When faced with a variety of prices, promotions, loyalty discount offers, and reductions, it can be difficult to make like-for-like comparisons between products."
Under UK law, how retailers display prices is governed primarily by the Price Marking Order 2004. However, new amendments came into force on 6 April 2026. The Price Marking (Amendment) Order 2024 now includes provisions for products sold as assortments, where items are packaged together or offered at a lower price when purchased in specific combinations.
Key Changes to Pricing Rules
Expanded Unit Pricing Requirements
The new rules require unit pricing for additional categories of packaged goods, including cereals, pasta, dried fruits, detergents, and cosmetics. This expansion gives consumers better tools to compare value across a wider range of everyday products.
Standardised Metric Unit Pricing
When metric unit prices are displayed, they must use standard measurements: price per kilogram, litre, metre, square metre, or cubic metre, as appropriate. This applies regardless of the product's actual size.
Enhanced Display Requirements
Prices must be clearly legible using fonts that are clear and of reasonable size. Any delivery charges must be unambiguous, easily identifiable, and clearly legible.
Exemptions for Mixed Product Packages
Retailers do not need to show a unit price for packages containing different items sold together, where some items are normally sold by weight (e.g., cheese), some by volume (e.g., wine), or at different individual prices when bought separately.
Deposit Scheme Clarifications
For products subject to deposit schemes, such as glass bottles with returnable deposits, the selling price must exclude the deposit amount. This ensures the displayed price reflects the actual cost of the product, separate from any refundable deposit.
Dual Pricing for Loyalty Schemes
When retailers offer different prices for the same product (e.g., a standard price and a discounted price for loyalty card members), they must clearly display both prices, explain the conditions required to obtain the lower price, and show these conditions prominently near the product. This applies to both selling prices and unit prices where applicable. For example, if a product is normally £5 but £4 with a loyalty card, both prices must be shown along with an explanation of the loyalty card requirement.
Sale Notices
Retailers may now only use general notices (such as "20% off everything") when it is not reasonably practical to display the reduced price on every individual product.
