Modern Slavery

Modern Slavery Statement

At F P Herting & Son plc (Hertings), we have a strong focus on purpose, and our sense of social responsibility ensures we speak out on the issues that impact our customers, our people and our industry. Our policy is to assess and address anti-modern slavery laws in our own business and we expect organisations with whom we work to also adopt and enforce policies to comply with current legislation. Collaboration is at the heart of achieving this, with our people, suppliers and customers.

What is modern slavery?

Modern slavery is an international crime affecting over 40 million people around the world. This growing global issue transcends age, gender and ethnicities. It includes victims trafficked from overseas and vulnerable people in the UK who are forced to work against their will across many different sectors, including agriculture, hospitality, construction, retail and manufacturing.

The Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the Act) requires commercial organisations supplying goods and/or services with a turnover of more than £36 million to prepare and publish an annual “Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement”. This Statement must set out the steps the organisation has taken, if any, during its financial year, to ensure that slavery or human trafficking is not taking place within its supply chain.

Our policy

Is to assess and address the risks of violations of anti-modern slavery and human trafficking laws. We adopt procedures that contribute to ensuring modern slavery does not occur in our business or supply chains and we expect organisations with whom we trade to adopt and enforce policies that comply with legislation.

We support our people and customers to address issues arising from modern slavery by way of collaboration, which helps us to underpin our culture and how we do business. We ensure:

• Our values, which are embedded throughout our business, set the parameters for how we expect our people to behave with colleagues, customers and the world at large
• We seek to treat everyone fairly and consistently, creating a workplace and business environment that is open, transparent and trusted
• Our policies and procedures relating to the Act are in line with our culture and values

Our procedures

We have a number of procedures in place that contribute to ensuring modern slavery does not occur in our business or supply chains.

Employment

• Policies that protect our people from unfair treatment and promote a fair and inclusive workplace
• Robust recruitment processes in line with UK employment laws, including: “right to work” document checks, contracts of employment and checks to ensure that everyone employed is aged 16 and above
• Market-related pay and rewards, reviewed annually
• Wellbeing strategy and initiatives to support our people’s physical and mental wellbeing and lifestyle choices

Our Supply Chains

We recognise that our business is exposed to greater risk when dealing with its suppliers, particularly those who have operations, or their own suppliers, in other territories. The following measures are in place to review and manage the risk:

• We have examined our supply chains and have identified over 300 suppliers for the financial year, ending 31^st December 2019
• We have mapped those suppliers to whom we spend £100,000 and above (83% of total spend), according to location, size and industry, to identify potential sectors of slavery. Of these:

• 100% are located in UK, or other low risk countries
• 33% have annual turnover > £36 million and are therefore covered by the Act’s requirements
• 5% fall in the “at risk” category

• Confirmation from our top suppliers, in terms of spend, of compliance to the Act through their own modern slavery statements
• Our commitment to collaborate closely with suppliers to help them understand and work towards their own compliance within the Act
• A responsible purchasing policy is in place, which reflects our commitment to and focus on suppliers’ ethical supply chain(s)
• A Supplier Code of Conduct is in place, used for all new and existing suppliers, clearly stating the company’s intention to step away, without penalty, if any occurrences of modern slavery are discovered and/or ignored

Our People

Following the Act, we have enabled our people to understand more about this growing issue by setting out the steps taken by our company. We also provide guidance to help them to report any concern they may have within business or in a personal context. We have:

• Developed and shared resources, including summary documents with an overview of the Act, and links to the modernslavery.co.uk website
• Signposted our people to modernslavery.co.uk to provide them with useful information on how to recognise different types of slavery, how to spot the signs and details of their telephone helpline
• Included in our Company Handbook a requirement that everyone reads and acknowledges the company’s modern slavery statement
• Introduced an internal whistleblowing procedure to enable anyone who has concerns, a means of registering their concerns confidentially

Our Customers

We continually review how to support our Customers. This includes collaborating with reputable organisations to deepen and share knowledge, so aiding our Customers to:

• Develop a modern slavery statement
• Conduct supply chain mapping
• Carry out supplier due diligence and routine spot checks
• Develop any policies and practices customers may have in place
• Supporting our clients

Mark Washington

CEO