Modern slavery
statement & policy
Vacherin Limited became part of CH & Co Catering Group Limited as of 28th February 2020. Accordingly, Vacherin Limited is now being operated in line with the Modern Slavery statement made by CH & Co Catering Group Limited. A copy of the statement is as follows:
Modern Slavery Act 2015: Statement
Our Business
This statement covers all the businesses and brands within CH & Co Catering Group Limited, whose head office is in England. A list of the registered companies sitting under CH & Co Catering Group Limited (‘CH & Co Group’) is at the end of this statement.
CH & Co Group is a catering and hospitality provider with over 6000 employees and operates more than 700 sites in the UK and Ireland, across the business and industry, healthcare, education, and public catering sectors. This statement outlines the measures we have taken to date and are continuing to take to ensure no slavery or human trafficking occurs in our business or in our supply chains.
Our Supply Chain
Our supply chain includes the key product categories of Ambient, Frozen & Chilled Food, Fresh Produce, Dairy, Fresh Meat, Beer, Wine and Spirits, Equipment & Disposables. With the recent mergers & acquisitions, CH & Co Group aims to amalgamate all suppliers into a single set of group-wide suppliers to minimise the risk of non-compliance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the ‘Act’).
We are committed to ensuring that there is no slavery or human trafficking in our supply chain or in any part of our business. Our Modern Slavery policy (publicly available on the company website and available to employees on the company intranet) reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implement and enforce effective systems and controls to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place anywhere in our supply chain or within our business. We also require our business partners to provide training to their staff, suppliers and providers.
To ensure all those in our supply chain comply with our values we have in place a supply chain compliance programme. This consists of structured contractual documentation (requiring suppliers to commit to complying with all relevant laws and regulations, including those relating to modern slavery and human trafficking) and a cyclical checking programme to ensure all parties uphold their commitments in line with our values.
Last year we engaged a third party to complete a due diligence piece to assess our nominated supply chain and to review suppliers' policies and processes.
This annual review ensures our suppliers are compliant or working towards compliance with the requirements of the Act as they apply in relation to the size of each suppliers' business. We continue to work with our suppliers to achieve 100% compliance in our supply chain and support our suppliers to become compliant. This coming year we shall be reviewing our non-core suppliers to ensure compliance.
Employees and agency workers
We have zero tolerance in relation to all our employees regarding slavery and human trafficking which also applies to our dealings with staff agency companies. CH & Co Group has strict HR policies and procedures which support the Act to protect against modern slavery and human trafficking. These include carrying out pre-employment face to face interviews and checks of identification and right to work documentation. There may also be a requirement on certain contracts for employees to be vetted to a more stringent level, this will be client driven. Reference checks are required for all new employees. It is also a requirement that all employees are able to speak and understand the English language, so we can be confident employees will understand our policies and procedures, internal communications and will be able to ask for help should they require it. The business also insists that all employees have their own bank account for the payment of wages.
The business carries out regular audits of its right to work and payroll information, which includes ad hoc site visits to ensure compliance. We provide various routes for employees to communicate with the business should bad practice be taking place and to allow people a confidential route to whistle blow.
We actively support our supply chain suppliers in becoming and ensuring compliance with the Modern Slavery Act and continue to check annually our suppliers and their compliance through third party providers.
We have in place systems to:
*Identify and assess potential risk areas in our supply chains;
*Mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our supply chains;
*Confidential whistleblowing hotline available for all employees and agency workers;
*Monitor potential risk areas in our supply chains.
Effectiveness
CH&CO has introduced the following KPI’s to measure the performance of our anti-slavery actions:
KPI 1: Number of employees receiving Modern Slavery Training
KPI 2: Number of potential instances of modern slavery investigated within our business operations and supply chain”
Training
CH & Co Group recognises modern slavery is a crime and can take many forms, such as forced labour, servitude, compulsory labour and human trafficking. We remain committed to improving our practices to combat slavery and human trafficking. Our Modern Slavery policy is communicated to all employees on our Company intranet to reinforce the policy. We ensure information is cascaded down the company, raising awareness of Modern Slavery at all levels of the business to all employees and new recruits are given specific training on what amounts to Modern Slavery, what our policy means and who to report any issues to. We encourage our employees to report any activity they believe to be unlawful and/or in breach of our policies and standards. Employees have the opportunity to inform the business of any concerns relating to potential risks or failures of our suppliers.
This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes CH & Co Catering Group Limited's slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 31st December 2019.
Bill Toner
CEO
CH & Co Catering Group Limited
Date: 16th November 2020
Vacherin Limited became part of CH & Co Catering Group Limited as of 28th February 2020. Accordingly, Vacherin Limited is now being operated in line with the Modern Slavery policy made by CH & Co Catering Group Limited. A copy of the policy is as follows
Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights. It takes various forms, such as slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour and human trafficking, all of which have in common the deprivation of a person's liberty by another in order to exploit them for personal or commercial gain. We have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and we are committed to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business dealings and relationships and to implement and enforce effective systems and controls to ensure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our own business or our supply chain.
We are also committed to ensuring there is transparency in our own business and in our approach to tackling modern slavery throughout our supply chain. We expect the same high standards from all of our contractors, suppliers and other business partners. As part of our contracting processes, we include specific prohibitions against the use of forced, compulsory or trafficked labour, or anyone held in slavery or servitude and we expect that our suppliers will hold their own suppliers to the same high standards. This policy applies to all persons working for us or on our behalf in any capacity, including employees at all levels, directors, officers, agency workers, seconded workers, volunteers, agents, contractors, external consultants, third-party representatives and business partners.
This policy does not form part of any employee’s contract of employment and we may amend it at any time.
Responsibility for the policy
The Procurement Department has overall responsibility for ensuring this policy complies with our legal and ethical obligations, and that all those under our control comply with it.
The Group Purchasing Director has primary and day-to-day responsibility for implementing this policy, monitoring its use and effectiveness, dealing with any queries about it, and auditing internal control systems and procedures to ensure they are effective in countering modern slavery.
Management at all levels are responsible for ensuring those reporting to them understand and comply with this policy and are given any required training.
Compliance with the policy
You must ensure that you read, understand and comply with this policy.
The prevention, detection and reporting of modern slavery in any part of our business or supply chain is the responsibility of all those working for us or under our control. You are required to avoid any activity that might lead to, or suggest, a breach of this policy. You must notify your manager OR the Procurement Department as soon as possible if you believe or suspect that a conflict with this policy has occurred, or may occur in the future.
You are encouraged to raise concerns about any issue of suspicion of modern slavery in any parts of our business or the supply chains of any supplier tier at the earliest possible stage.
If you believe or suspect a breach of this policy has occurred or that it may occur you must notify your manager or report it in accordance with our Whistleblowing Policy as soon as possible.
If you are unsure about whether a particular act, the treatment of workers more generally, or their working conditions with in any tier of our supply chain constitutes any of the various forms of modern slavery, raise it with your manager or the Procurement Department.
We aim to encourage openness and will support anyone who raises genuine concerns in good faith under this policy, even if they turn out to be mistaken. We are committed to ensuring no one suffers any detrimental treatment as a result of reporting in good faith their suspicion that modern slavery of whatever form is or may be taking place in any part of our own business or in any part of our supply chain.
If you believe that you have suffered any such treatment, you should inform your manager immediately.
Communication and awareness of the policy
Training on this policy, and on the risk our business faces from modern slavery in its supply chain will be given where needed.
Our zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery must be communicated to all suppliers, contractors and business partners at the outset of our business relationship with them and reinforced as appropriate thereafter.
Breaches of this policy
Any employee who breaches this policy will face disciplinary action, which could result in dismissal for misconduct or gross misconduct. We may terminate our relationship with other individuals and organisations working on our behalf if they breach this policy.