Update from Sainsburys in advance of Lockdown on Thursday

Note priority access to stores from Thursday for elderly, vulnerable & NHS id holders.

'Over the last few months, we have been focused on adapting our business to keep you safe and serve you well. As we are seeing increased restrictions across the nation, I am writing to reassure you that we are doing everything we can to keep you and our colleagues safe when you shop with us. We are also aware that this is a challenging time for those in need and I want to tell you more about how we are ramping up our efforts to support the communities we serve and help get food to those who need it the most.

Feeding the nation

As we approach winter, we know that queuing will become harder for some of our customers. From Thursday, we will offer elderly and vulnerable customers and NHS and care workers with an NHS ID priority access to our stores. This means you can skip the queue at any time so that we can welcome you into our stores quickly and safely.

We will continue to have socially distanced queuing systems in place outside our stores, supported by a greeter at the front of stores at busier times of day and we ask that you please queue at a safe distance of two metres apart. We are following government guidance and encourage you to please do the same by wearing a mask when you are in our stores. However, we completely understand if you are medically exempt from wearing a mask.

Where possible, we ask that you only send one adult per household when you shop with us. This will help us manage the number of people in our stores and make your shop quicker and smoother.

As we keep working hard to feed the nation, we are focused on getting as much food and other essential items as possible onto shelves. We have a good supply of stock so please also continue to buy what you need for yourself and your family and there will be enough for everyone.

Online shopping

We have been working hard to increase the number of online orders we can carry out and we are on track to fulfil 750,000 online orders per week across home delivery and Click and Collect. We'll be going into the festive season able to serve more people than ever before and we'll increase this as much as we can as we head into Christmas. Since March, we have delivered over seven million orders to our elderly and vulnerable customers and these customers still have priority access to online orders. If you are a self-isolating customer, please use the delivery instructions box on the online checkout to let us know.

I also want to let you know that our online order slots for the core Christmas period, 20th to 23rd December, go on general release from 29th November.

All our online orders will continue to be delivered without bags, which allows us to serve more customers, however our drivers can help our elderly and vulnerable customers transfer their shopping into bags if needed.

Supporting our community

Earlier this year, with help from our customers and colleagues, we donated over ?4 million to Comic Relief and Children in Need and ?3 million to Fareshare to support food banks. However we know that sadly, many people are still struggling to feed themselves and their families.

To ensure that no one goes hungry this Christmas, we are creating a ?5 million community fund as part of our 'Help Brighten a Million Christmases' campaign.

We invite you to support by donating Nectar points, food and other essential products or money in store and online between 1st-14th December. We'll match donations up to ?4 million and with your help, we can raise up to and beyond ?8 million for local charities and communities, supporting the most vulnerable in society. In addition to the ?4 million guaranteed donation, we are creating a ?1 million pot for our stores to contribute to local community groups and good causes. We'll share more details on how you can help us Brighten a Million Christmases in the coming weeks.

Poppy Appeal

We are also proud to support The Royal British Legion's annual Poppy Appeal, for the 26th year, to raise funds to help the Armed Forces community. In addition to purchasing paper poppies until 11th November, you can support by donating your Nectar points via the Nectar app and website, or through cashless donations at checkouts in store and online.

Finally, to recognise the amazing effort of our colleagues across the UK, we will be making a second thank you payment of 10% of four weeks' pay, to all of our frontline colleagues and managers who have gone above and beyond this year, in time for Christmas.

Thank you

I know this has been an incredibly challenging year for everyone, so thank you for being patient with us. Our colleagues continue to come to work on the front line every day to help keep the nation fed and I am extremely grateful to them for everything they are doing day in, day out to serve you and all our customers.

Best wishes,

Simon, Chief Executive'