Scottish Government Food Price Cap Consultation
In May 2026 Disability Equality Scotland published our Cost of Living Research. We found that 1 in 6 people who answered said they found it hard to pay their food bills because of the prices in the shops.
The Scottish Government have said that they think the cost of food is too high. Their idea to help with this is to introduce a cap on the price of certain foods. A cap is where the Government sets the price for a type of food item and shops have to put this in place. Shops cannot sell these foods at a higher price than the price cap.
The Government wants to know what people think of their price cap idea, what foods should be capped and what shops need to use the price cap. DES have put together a survey to get members’ views.
We will use what members tell us to write a response to the Scottish Government and tell them what DES thinks should happen with the price cap on food.
1. Do you think that making food cheaper should be a priority for the Scottish Government?
Priority means something it is important to do soon.
2. Do you think that the Government should take action to make food cheaper?
3. Do you think there should be a price cap on food?
Price cap means sellers cannot set a price higher than a certain amount.
4. What do you think are the good things about a price cap on food?
5. What do you think are the bad things about a price cap on food?
6. Should the price cap apply to supermarkets only?
7. Should the price cap apply to online shops?
8. What type of shops do you think price capped items should be sold in?
Please tick the box to choose the types of shop that should sell price capped items. A tick means the type of shop should sell price capped items.
9. Should all shops have to sell price capped items or be allowed to choose to sell price capped items or not?
10. If a shop runs out of a price capped item, should they have to sell a similar item at the same capped price?
11. What food items should be included in a food price cap?
12. What food items should not be included in the price cap?
13. If a shop only sells a larger version of an item that has a price cap, but still sells it at the capped price, do you think this should be allowed?
An example of this would be if a 1-pint carton of milk had a price cap of £1 and the shop only sold a 2-pint carton of milk for £2.
14. Should price capped foods have a brand label on the packaging to show that they are included in the price cap?
15. Should there be signs in shops to show where price capped food can be found?
16. Should price capped food be grouped together in a shop or online?
17. Are there any other things you think we should tell the Government about their food price cap idea?