1. INTRODUCTION
Modern slavery is a crime and violation of fundamental human rights.
It can take 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.
The Group is opposed to slavery and human trafficking in any part of our activities or our supply chains and is committed to ensuring that we have adequate policies and procedures in place to identify and prevent these practices.

2. ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
The principal activity of The Group, which is privately owned, is trading in dairy products. Group turnover for the financial year 2021 was in excess of £160,000,000. The Group operates only from sites within the United Kingdom.

3. OUR BUSINESS
The Group principally trades in dairy products from its headquarters at Englesea House in Crewe, Cheshire. It also stores, cuts and packs products at Fayrefield House in Crewe, Cheshire; Weston Cold Store in Crewe, Cheshire, and at Waymills Industrial estate, Shropshire. Temporary labour is only supplied at these premises by companies accredited by the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA).

4. SUPPLY CHAIN
The substantial majority of our purchases are made from the UK and the EU. We therefore source very little from countries where modern slavery is prevalent and assess our risk of exposure to modern slavery and human trafficking as relatively low. We however recognise and understand the complexities associated with an international supply chain network and are committed to working with our suppliers, customers, Regulatory Authorities and other parties to support the development of long-term solutions to modern slavery and human trafficking. We have a sound document management system that ensures all steps of the supplier approval process are followed. We internally review our supply chain to evaluate modern slavery and human trafficking risks. We are members of Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (SEDEX) and are regularly audited by third parties. We continue to strengthen our current communications with suppliers to ensure compliance with the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) base code.

5. POLICIES
We operate a number of policies to ensure compliance, which include:
1) Anti-Slavery Policy – which reflects our commitment to act ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implement and enforce systems and controls to minimise the risk of slavery and human trafficking taking place in its supply chain.

2) Whistleblowing Policy – which allows employees, without fear of reprisal. To raise concerns about how other employees are being treated, and about suspect practices within our Company or supply chain. This Policy provides a mechanism for employees who may wish to raise modern slavery/human trafficking as an issue.

3) Ethical Trading Policy – which is a core element of the Company’s commitment to buy and sell its products responsibly and that all workers should be free from exploitation and discrimination and employees should enjoy conditions of freedom, security and equality. The Company continues to strengthen its current communication with its suppliers to ensure compliance with the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) base code.

4) Supplier Approval Policy with a sound document management system which ensures that all the steps of the supplier approval process are followed so that the Company can continuously evaluate the supply chain to identify modern slavery and human trafficking risks.

6. RISK ASSESSMENT
The Directors of The Group have ultimate responsibility for human rights within The Group. Where relevant, the Senior Management team at each location will maintain an ongoing assessment of the risk of exposure to modern slavery and human trafficking.

7. DUE DILIGENCE
We conduct due diligence in respect of our supply chains and operations to understand whether there is evidence of Modern Slavery issues, and whether there are sufficient controls in place. There are no known or suspected instances of slavery and human trafficking within our business or supply chain.

8. TRAINING AND COMMUNICATION
To ensure the required level of understanding of the risks of issues such as modern slavery and human trafficking in The Group and our supply chain, we provide awareness updates to our staff on all policies including the Modern Slavery Policy.
Our recruitment process also defines our stance on slavery and human trafficking, both in making sure that new employees are aware of our policies and ensuring that our employment packages are fair. Policy documents are made available to all staff on induction and are also available on our internal shared drives. Ongoing training will be aimed at departmental heads to disseminate amongst the workforce.

9. NEXT STEPS
We understand that combating modern slavery and human trafficking will be an ongoing process and we endeavour to continue to review the risks of this being present within our supply chain year on year. We will implement any measures arising from such reviews as necessary.

This statement is published pursuant to Section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement for the financial year ended 31^st December 2021. It has been approved by the board of Directors on 25^th May 2022 and will be reviewed annually.

FAYREFIELD GROUP LTD, FAYREFIELD FOODS LTD, DAIRY SOLUTIONS LTD & FAYREFIELD INGREDIENTS LTD

Date: 25^th May 2022