Improving the Poultry Scheme
Priorities for technical improvements in the poultry sector
In 2026, Red Tractor will review its farm-facing standards and assessment process. The aim is to streamline assessments, reduce audit burden, and ensure standards remain relevant to the farming sectors they support.
The Poultry Sector Board – made up of producers, processors and retailers -has collaboratively identified objectives and priorities for improving the Poultry Scheme. These priorities will be reviewed regularly to reflect the evolving needs of the sector.
As a first step, all stakeholders were invited to feedback on these objectives and existing standards. The opportunity for feedback closed on 1 February 2026. All feedback received will be shared with Sector Boards to inform their work going forwards.
Next steps
The Poultry Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), comprised of sector experts, will develop detailed recommendations to revise the Standards and Scheme in line with these objectives.
- 2026: Proposed updates shared for stakeholder comment
- 2027: Implementation of improvements following UKAS approval
This work will be delivered alongside Red Tractor-wide operational improvements, such as assessor training and improved use of technology and communications.
Objectives for poultry
- Update standards for alignment and impact, and explore options for new modules
- Look to evolve audit practices to be more efficient, including options to differentiate audit depths, enabling group-level audits where appropriate, and prioritising welfare outcomes
- Improve engagement through clear communication, better audits, and farmer tools
- Harness technology and data for compliance, benchmarking, and enhanced scheme reputation
- Champion British poultry through transparency, provenance, and leadership on performance, and value add-ons for welfare and sustainability
Priority actions (2026 Review)
To deliver these objectives, the Sector Board and TAC, will:
- Refresh the Poultry TAC and start a standards review
- Explore additional certification modules to support environmental and welfare aims
- Define data governance through a dedicated group
- Scope opportunities to harness data from the industry to inform compliance and group level audit options
- Kick off farmer engagement and technical communications refresh
Longer term focus
Between 2027 and 2030:
- Launch updated standards and modular options in 2027
- Pilot data driven risk-based audits
- Begin data integration and farmer-facing tools for benchmarking
- Support foodservice visibility and remain adaptable to evolving market asks and regulatory requirements, while safeguarding scheme integrity.
Longer term, the Poultry Sector Board will explore:
- Ways to embed data to lead towards a continuous compliance model of improved performance
- Enhanced scheme trust, transparency, and reduced audit duplication for market needs
- Use sector data to showcase leadership in standards and performance
Outgoing Poultry Sector Chair, Iain Gardener explains the priorities for the sector
Chicken Standards
View documents for existing standards
Ducks Standards
View documents for existing standards
Turkeys Standards
View documents for existing standards
Watch a recorded presentation
Iain Gardener, outgoing Sector Chair, Nick Major, incoming Sector Chair and Sophie Elwes, Senior Technical Manager explain the priorities
Read more about how Red Tractor is improving farm standards and audits
Who sits on the Red Tractor Poultry Sector Board?
- Nick Major, Poultry Sector Chair (as of 1 December 2025)
- Clay Burrows – QBT
- Will Raw – NFU
- Gavin Foster – BPC
- Patrick Hook – NFU
- TBD – BPC
- Keith Warner – Integrator Representative
- Viv Harris – British Retail Consortium
- Elena O’Callaghan – Retailer
- David Gibson – BPC
- Jonty Hay – NFU
- Judith Irons – TAC Chair