Becoming a Red Tractor Licensee

Becoming a Licensee
Once you have completed your application form and we have verified the details you will receive confirmation within 2 working days.

Licensing Period
The licensing year for packers and processors runs from 1st April to 31st March in the following year.  For Food Service outlets the licensing period is from 1st January to 31st December. You can become a licensee at any time of the year.

Licence Fees
Red Tractor Assurance (RTA) is an independent non-profit organisation set up to manage, develop and promote the Red Tractor scheme. We charge a small licence fee to cover admin costs especially the costs of the audit programme to ensure that the Red Tractor logo is used correctly.

Annual Fee
The licence fee is payable when you become a licensee and is then renewed annually at the beginning of the licensing period. The fee scale is based on the amount of product that you will label with the Red Tractor logo.  The application asks you for the actual or estimated annual Retail Sales Value of product that will carry the logo and we will notify you of the fee.  We review the fee annually having regard for inflation and similar factors.

One Licence agreement per Production Site
The licence covers the packing/production site. One licence agreement can cover a wide range of products, provided they all meet the eligibility criteria.  But multi-site businesses must have separate licenses for every production / packing site.  Similar conditions apply to food service wholesale suppliers. Businesses operating Food Service outlets should contact us direct to discuss their particular needs.

Integrity Checks
The licence agreement will allow us to make occasional audits, at our expense, to check that you are using the Red Tractor correctly.  We use third party inspection companies for this work and as far as possible we encourage them to incorporate this piece of work into other audit work in your facility.

Your licence covers:
The licence:
• Allows you to use the Red Tractor logo on all eligible products supplied from the site
• Allows you to use the Red Tractor logo on sales material such as company websites, leaflets point of sale material etc.
• Allows us to increase awareness of the Red Tractor logo among shoppers to maximise opportunities for everyone in the Red Tractor supply chain.
• Allows us to check everyone using the logo to ensure that its credibility and integrity is not undermined.

Methods of payment
Fees can be paid by BACS or cheque.

Paying your Licence Fee

AFS (Assured Food Standards) uses a proforma invoicing system for packers licensees to pay for the their annual fees because:
• We only become aware of your intention to renew your licence when your application for renewal has been received 
• We are a not-for-profit organisation and our operating costs are reduced by us not having to monitor payment and follow up on receivables
• We only pay HM Revenue and Customs all VAT output tax due when your payment for renewal has been received by AFS.
• A formal VAT invoice is issued by us upon receipt of payment