This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes Arden Winch & Co Ltd's modern slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending March 31st 2023.
Introduction
Arden Winch & Co Ltd deplore slavery and will never tolerate it in our organisation or any part of our supply chain. As a company turning over under £36 million per annum we are not compelled by The Modern Slavery Act to make a statement, but feel it vital to do so. This statement will highlight the actions we have taken to eliminate the risk of human trafficking and slavery in connection with our business.
Company Information
Arden Winch & Co Ltd are a 211 year old company with our Head Office in Sheffield. This is supplemented by a branch in Nottingham. In total we employ 50 members of staff -- all between these two sites. We have no employees outside of the UK.
Our Business
We are a leading supplier of personal protective equipment (PPE), workwear, and janitorial products. We also have an in-house embroidery/heat seal department that logos 400 garments on average per day.
We supply customers throughout the UK, from multi-nationals and city councils, down to sole traders.
Supply Chains
Our supply chains include the manufacturers and suppliers of all the products that we sell. The vast majority of these have manufacturing facilities outside of the UK. It also includes the suppliers of our IT equipment and the professional services of our accountants, legal, and Human Resources advisers.
Our Staff
Before employing staff, we always ask for proof that they are eligible to work in the UK. Without visibility of all the required proof, ideally such as a passport, we will not employ them.
During the induction process, our zero tolerance policy on modern slavery is outlined to new employees.
Our Whistleblowing policy, as also highlighted during employees' induction, is available to them at all times in either hard copy or on our Intranet. This provides a route for them to raise concerns -- such as modern slavery -- without fear of reprisal.
Due Diligence
While we are confident that no modern slavery is taking place within our direct organisation, we are supplied by companies with manufacturing bases in parts of the world such as Bangladesh and China, where the threat is high.
As such, we have to be extremely vigilant that our suppliers are employing staff abroad on a fair wage and offering acceptable working conditions.
As part of the Eurosafe buying group, we have a dedicated purchasing team, called DENT (Dedicated Eurosafe Negotiating Team). This team is responsible for negotiating on all new products. This also includes checking the source of each product and the supplier’s actual manufacturing facility. These checks include the following and this system is used for every supplier that is chosen to be a key Eurosafe partner.
- The product is tracked back to its manufacturing source.
- The manufacturing site has to provide a copy of their Ethical policy.
- This should include reference to safe and clean working conditions.
- Equal and fair treatment for all workers.
- That all the workers get a living wage.
- We also ask each factory to provide copies of accreditations such as WRAP approved, OEKO-TEX and Fairtrade.
If a company cannot pass this criteria or do not have the correct certification, then they will not be accepted as an Arden Winch/Eurosafe supplier. We expect their facilities to be audited by a third-party regularly, with the report made available to us.
We have also implemented systems to:
- Mitigate the risk of modern slavery with our existing suppliers.
- Identify and monitor potential risk areas in our supply chains.
This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending March 31st 2023. It was approved by our Board on 21st April 2023.
Steven Barker - Managing Director
Arden Winch & Co Ltd