Indigo Food Group Limited - Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement 2019

This statement has been published in accordance with section 54 (1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. It relates to actions and activities during the company financial year for 1st February 2018 to 31st January 2019. The following statement sets out the steps that the Company has taken and is continuing to take to ensure that modern slavery or human trafficking is not taking place within our business or supply chain. The Company has a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery.

About Us

Indigo Food Group Limited is the holding company of BM Foods Limited and Winning Blend Limited T/A The Welsh Pantry. Whilst there are other companies within the group these currently do not have any employees or supply goods.

BM Foods Limited was established in 2002 and remains 100% privately owned. The business specialises in the processing of residual cooked chilled meats. It is based in Avonmouth, Bristol.

The business currently operates over twenty four hours a day five days a week, dispatching goods to customers over the UK with our own transport fleet seven days a week. The number of staff currently employed in the business is approximately 225, with minimal use of temporary agency workers.

Winning Blend Limited was established in 1988 and purchased by the Indigo Food Group in 2010. The business has a strong heritage in manufacturing high quality Pies, Savoury Pastries (Sausage Rolls, Pasties, Slices), Ready Meals and Quiche.

The business currently operates from a 100,000 sq. ft. unit in LLantrisant, R.C.T and currently employees approximately 170 people. The use of temporary agency workers is approximately 2000 hours per week.

Our Supply Chains

At the end of the last financial year (31/01/2019) IFG had approximately 550 suppliers who we purchased products from. Incoming products range from meats to packaging. Purchases are made from within and outside of the UK.

As part of our 2018 objectives the team started to obtain our suppliers modern slavery statements. If these were not available our suppliers were asked to sign a modern slavery declaration confirming that to the best of their knowledge their business does not take part in any Modern Slavery Practices. At present we have less than 25% still outstanding but will continue to work through this as part of our 2019 objectives.

Further to the above we use a number of agencies for temporary workers. It was our 2018 aim to ensure that we had copies of their slavery and human trafficking statements which has been completed.

Policies/Procedures

IFG has various company policies and procedures in place to further our commitment to tackling modern day slavery to ensure we are conducting our business in an ethical and transparent manner. These include;

• Equal opportunities Policy which sets out guidance on how to treat all employees fairly and equally, regardless of their sex, trans-gender status, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marital status, civil partnership status, age or perceived age, race, colour, nationality, national origins, ethnic origins, disabilities or memberships of third party organisations i.e.; trade unions.
• Recruitment Policy which includes eligibility to work in the UK checks for all employees to safeguard against human trafficking or individuals being forced to work against their will.
• Company Grievance policy which allows employees to report incidences of perceived unfair treatment.
• Company Whistleblowing policy that allows all employees to raise concerns about internal issues without fear of reprisals.

As part of our 2019 objectives we will create and implement an Anti-slavery Policy which is intended to set out our stance on modern slavery and human trafficking and explains how employees can identify any instances of this and where they can go for help.

Due Diligence Process

We still intend to put in place a number of new and improved systems to identify and mitigate risk in regards to slavery and human trafficking. The below were our 2018 objectives:

• Map our supply chain to identify and asses potential risk areas. This objective is still ongoing.
• Creation and issue of supplier approval questionnaire which contains ethical trading questions. This will allow us to gain further information on our suppliers both current and new. This document has been created but not yet rolled out.
• Carry out audits of temporary worker providers to assess their ethical and legal compliance. It is our aim to complete this in 2019.
• Promote the company whistleblowing policy and the HR confidential contact details for employees to report any ethical concerns including modern slavery or human trafficking. A new whistleblowing policy has been created, it will be included in the updated version of the company handbook which is due to be issued later this year.

Training and Communication

A member of the HR team attended a Stronger Together workshop in tacking modern slavery in supply chains. Information from this workshop has been brought back to the business and we have completed the Employer Implementation checklist and are working through the areas in which we have actions to implement.

Throughout 2019 we intend to train our management team in the following areas –

• How to identify the signs of slavery and human trafficking
• What steps to take if slavery and human trafficking is suspected
• How to escalate potential slavery or human trafficking issues to the relevant parties within the business
• What external help is available and how to contact the Modern slavery helpline, Gangmasters Licensing Authority and Stronger Together.

Further to the above we intend to create and implement a ‘Raising Awareness Programme’ in 2019. We will do this by displaying posters on all sites and including a section on Modern Slavery in our inductions for employees to be aware of how to spot the signs and report and issues.

Endorsement of this Statement

This statement has been approved by the company directors who are committed to communicating openly and transparently with all stakeholders that the Indigo Food Group does not tolerate slavery, forced or trafficked labour to ensure that our zero-tolerance approach is shared by everyone we work with.