Modern Slavery Statement 2020

Eddie Stobart Logistics plc is committed to preventing modern slavery and human trafficking from occurring within any part of its business and supply chain. Our policies support our approach to doing business ethically and with integrity and we expect the same standards from all our suppliers.  We continue to focus on improving the effectiveness of our systems and controls to safeguard against any form of modern slavery or human trafficking.

About Eddie Stobart

The Eddie Stobart Group is a leading end-to end supply chain transport and logistics business providing industry-leading services to many of UK’s best known brands.  We employee over 6,000 people, including managerial and support services staff, drivers and warehouse operatives. We also employ agency staff directly and through temporary labour agencies. Eddie Stobart has focused its business on growing a balanced portfolio across the following core sectors: E-Commerce, Manufacturing, Industrial & Bulk, Retail and Consumer.

The Eddie Stobart Group includes Greenwhitestar Acquisitions Limited and its subsidiaries, Eddie Stobart Limited, iForce, The Pallet Network, Speedy Freight and The Logistic People.*

Our vision and values

Eddie Stobart Logistics operates with a clear vision; to be recognised for our pride and professionalism in delivering innovative customer solutions and service excellence.  We have strong corporate values; openness and honesty, trust and respect, integrity, compassion and fun. Our vision and values are underpinned by a set of corporate policies supporting our commitment to high ethical standards and doing business with integrity, including

• An anti-slavery policy reinforcing our commitment to ensuring there are no instances of forced labour, slavery or human trafficking in our business or supply chain and helping our people to identify these practices;
• A recruitment policy which includes checks on eligibility to work in the UK in order to safeguard against human trafficking or forced labour;
• A whistleblowing policy so that all employees know that they can raise a concern without fear of reprisals; and
• A code of business conduct which explains our ethical standards as an organisation and how we expect our employees and suppliers to act.

Our adherence to these policies is subject to regular reviews, helping us to continuously improve in this area. The induction process that all employees, including drivers and warehouse operatives attend, is used to raise the profile of modern slavery and human trafficking and to make employees aware of these polices

Our workforce and our supply chain

The majority of our Group employees are UK-based managerial or office based staff, drivers and warehouse operatives, all of whom are paid at least the National Living Wage, and we believe there is a low risk of human slavery or forced labour in our direct workforce.

The risk may be more significant in our supply chain and we have therefore focused on enhancing our approach in relation to our supply chain as noted below. We have a significant number of suppliers of services and temporary workers, including drivers, cleaners and vehicle maintenance and repair staff.

Progress we have made

We have continued to review and improve the way we seek to ensure there is no forced labour or human trafficking in our workforce or our supply chain. We have enhanced our training programme and rolled out our in-house training portal which facilitates additional mandatory training for office-based employees on identifying slavery and forced labour. We have also enhanced the focus given in employee inductions to raising awareness of modern slavery and human trafficking.

As noted above, we have focused on enhancing our approach in relation to our supply chain and, since we first published a Modern Slavery Act Statement in 2018, have:

• Reviewed our standard contractual terms that require our suppliers to commit to contributing to the prevention of modern slavery and human trafficking and to adhere to our Anti-Slavery Policy;
• Focussed on the vigilance of the third party agencies that supply our temporary workers to ensuring there is no human slavery or human trafficking in their businesses. We have continued our programme of reviews to assess compliance by these third party agencies with their commitments to preventing modern slavery and human trafficking and with other legislative requirements including relevant health and safety legislation;
• Introduced a Supplier Charter in which we have communicated to suppliers our expectations about the standards on which they conduct business; and
• Enhanced our pre-contract checks to assess the anti-slavery policies and procedures that new suppliers have in place.

We will continue proactively to review, and where appropriate to enhance, our policies and practices in line with our commitment to safeguarding against modern slavery and human trafficking in our business and our supply chain.

This statement is made in accordance with section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and was approved by the Board of Directors on 27 March 2020

Saki Riffner
Director

*The Board of Eddie Stobart Limited (“ESL”) has reviewed and approved the Modern Slavery Act Statement above and confirms that it covers the approach and steps taken by ESL with the aim of ensuring there is no modern slavery or human trafficking it is business or supply chain.

Iforce Limited and The Pallet Network Limited publish separate modern slavery act statements that are available on their websites as www.iforcegroup.com and www.thepalletnetworkltd.co.uk respectively.
The Logistics People does not meet the criteria to require the publication of a modern slavery act statement.