Parents could save around £300 a year by switching to a lower-priced brand of infant formula, the Competition & Markets Authority has found.
The regulator launched its investigation into the UK infant formula market in November 2023, after finding manufacturers had raised prices by as much as 36% on some brands in two years and managed to increase profit margins during the cost of living crisis.
It has today published its final recommendations in the hope of delivering better outcomes for parents, who often choose a brand for the first time in “vulnerable circumstances”.
Differences between brands’ pricing strategies can have a sizeable impact on parents’ finances. Evidence reviewed by the CMA shows they could make a saving of around £300 over a baby’s first year of life by switching from a popular mid-priced product to a low-priced brand.
The CMA’s final recommendations are as follows:
- Removing brand influence in healthcare settings: Parents should be provided with timely, clear, accurate and impartial information on nutritional sufficiency of all infant formula products as early as possible. Where parents are given infant formula in healthcare settings, labelling should be standardised to reduce the influence of branding on their decision making. For example, branded formula could be put into non-branded containers, or the NHS could have a white-label formula.
- Equipping parents with the right information when they are shopping: Information about nutritional sufficiency should be displayed clearly and prominently on shelves and when buying online. In store, all brands of infant formula should be displayed together and in a separate cluster from other formula milks to enable quick and easy price comparisons.
- Strengthening labelling and advertising rules: All packaging should clearly display information on nutritional sufficiency. Claims that are intangible, or cannot be easily checked by parents, should be banned. Like infant formula, advertising (including price promotions and deals) for follow-on milks should be banned. To help shops, manufacturers and enforcers, government should clarify what constitutes ‘advertising’, outlining exactly what shops and manufacturers can and cannot do regarding formula milks. Parents should be allowed to use gift cards, vouchers, loyalty points, and coupons to purchase infant formula.
- Effectively enforce current and future rules: Strengthen the roles played by relevant authorities so they must approve the packaging of all infant formula products before sale. At present, companies can put products onto the market before the relevant authority has reviewed the label.
Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, said: “Every parent wants to give their baby the best possible start in life.
“Many whom need, or choose, to formula feed pick a brand at a vulnerable moment, based on incomplete information, often believing that higher prices must mean better quality. This is despite NHS advice stating that all brands will meet your baby’s nutritional needs, regardless of brand or price.
“Governments across the UK are committed to the tight regulation of infant formula for public health reasons. So, our proposals are designed to help parents make the best choices for them and their babies, with access to better information, while sharpening the effectiveness of the existing rules.
“Our proposals will also make it easier for regulations to be properly enforced, while ensuring manufacturers and retailers can be more confident in what they can and can’t do according to law.
“We strongly encourage governments to act on the recommendations to stop well-intended regulation driving poor outcomes for consumers. We’re ready to help implement the changes and support thinking around further measures, including removing the ban on price promotions, should governments consider it necessary at a later stage.”
‘Prohibitively expensive’ formula
Public health minister Ashley Dalton said: “I welcome this report and would like to thank the CMA for their thorough investigation.
“There are many benefits of breastfeeding but for those families that cannot or choose not to breastfeed, it is vital they can access formula that is affordable and high quality.
“Families should not be paying over the odds to feed their babies because of outdated regulation.
“As part of our Plan for Change, we’re determined to ensure every child has the best start to life. We will carefully consider these recommendations and respond fully in due course.”
Dr Vicky Sibson, director of First Steps Nutrition Trust, said: “The CMA’s findings reflect the lived experience of many families – infant formula is prohibitively expensive, while families are being manipulated by misleading marketing.
“Stronger, enforced regulations are needed to protect parents, carers and their babies. We welcome today’s recommendations and urge the UK, Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh governments to build on this progress by ensuring swift implementation.
“We agree that direct price interventions should be revisited once the effect of these new measures has been assessed, ideally no more than 18 months down the line. It is vital the cost of infant formula is brought down across the board and in the long term.”
A marketing ‘mirage’
Dr Katie Pereira-Kotze, secretariat of the Baby Feeding Law Group UK, said: “For too long, formula companies have got away with creating a mirage of so-called important differences between formula products to justify higher prices.
“The CMA’s call for the simple core message – that all infant formulas are nutritionally sufficient – to be shared more widely in both healthcare and retail settings is a welcome step forward to counter company misinformation.
“All infant formulas meet babies’ nutritional needs, regardless of brand, price or any added or ‘special’ ingredients that companies claim make their specific product better quality. We look forward to seeing this recommendation implemented so that parents receive accurate, impartial and consistent information.”
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