Our Business
Leathams Ltd is the home of high-quality, innovative foods for people who passionately care about what they cook and serve. Established in 1980, with our head office based in London, our focus has always been magnified on continuing the innovation, customer service and excellence that’s become our hallmark. Therefore, we are proud to market and distribute globally sourced and imported foods to the Foodservice and Manufacturing sectors within the UK.
With the sales split into the Foodservice, and Ingredients, the rest of the business is structured to support each of these channels. With different supply departments having a unique role to play in our service.
- Procurement- The buying channel is a large and diverse team, speaking many different languages, making sure the right food is bought and that stock is managed efficiently.
- Technical- The technical department is led by a team of industry technical professionals, who work in collaboration with our supply partners around the world. They aim to improve the systems and processes in place to exceed best practice food quality, safety, and legality. This is supported by our BRC AA+ accreditation.
- Project Management – The projects team are internal customer-focused and responsible for getting new products (NPD and EPD) driven through the business with pace and excellence
Due to our strong relationships with our global supply base, we are committed to opposing all forms of human trafficking and modern slavery (see Annexure 1 for definitions) and upholding high ethical standards as we are committed to providing great-value products to those within the UK Foodservice and Manufacturing industry. Therefore, Leathams Ltd will not tolerate the use of the organisation’s resources (human, material, or time) to support any activity constituting or connected to modern slavery, including human trafficking and exploitation.
Our approach to Slavery and Human trafficking
Leathams is thoroughly committed to ethical working practices, and, as a company, view inhumane conditions such as slavery, exploitation, and human trafficking as completely unacceptable within the business or through our supply chains.
Due to our global presence, we recognise our responsibilities and have a zero-tolerance attitude when it comes to modern slavery and human trafficking. Therefore, this awareness of such activity and the sensitivity surrounding it is paramount when liaising with our suppliers both in the UK and around the world.
The company understands that modern slavery manifests itself in a variety of forms, but all of which are heinous crimes. Therefore, we believe in the enforcement of effective systems, controls, and processes to ensure that modern slavery does not take place in any part of our business or supply chains.
Here at Leathams, employees are encouraged to report any such concerns to management so they in turn can act accordingly. This can be done anonymously through our policies embedded within our Internal Management System.
Our Supply Chain
Our supply chain includes the provisioning of raw materials and finished foodstuffs from approximately 26 different countries.
We have started mapping our supply base to investigate any areas at high risk of modern slavery, either through geography or the ingredient sourced. Over the next 24 months we are working to establish links to each of our suppliers using Sedex (the Supplier Ethical Database Exchange). We will also use Sedex to investigate every suppliers labour standards, including modern slavery and human trafficking.
Due Diligence to counter Slavery and Human Trafficking
All our employees are based within one of our UK sites. All our employees have a written contract of employment and have access to the employee’s handbook. When recruiting staff, this is undertaken directly by a permanent member of Leathams staff. Agencies are only used to identify candidates and face to face interviews are undertaken by Leathams employees to ensure the potential employee has a permit to work within the UK and is doing so voluntarily.
Risk assessment and management
We plan to carry out a comprehensive risk assessment to identify the risks associated with modern slavery and human trafficking, this is reviewed and updated annually. We will focus on how we as an organisation can put in place control measures to eliminate or minimise this risk.
This includes the measures that we take internally regarding the employment of someone affected by modern slavery or human trafficking into our organisation, and also the practicable measures that we can take to prevent this within our wider supply chain.
The risk assessment will be undertaken and reviewed by colleagues trained to understand and identify the risks and associated controls.
Risks are categorised as High Risk or Low Risk.
Key performance indicators to measure effectiveness of steps being taken
Following the completion of the Risk Assessment, we will use a number of key performance indicators to assess the effectiveness of our control measures, and also our own internal compliance. These will be reviewed annually and the results published in the Senior Management Review meeting.
KPIs currently are as follows:
- Completion of the Risk Assessment process
- Training for relevant colleagues
- Creation of a colleague Ethical Team
Training on modern slavery and trafficking
A number of key colleagues throughout our organisation are trained in the Stronger Together programme. Stronger Together is a multi-stakeholder business-led initiative aiming to reduce modern slavery, particularly forced labour, labour trafficking and other hidden third party exploitation of workers. They provide guidance, training, resources and a network for employers, labour providers, workers and their representatives to work together to reduce exploitation
All our employees can see information which the company holds on their behalf (training record, appraisal, development plan).
This statement is made in relation to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes the company’s slavery and human trafficking statement for the current financial year 2022/23.
Nick Hastilow
Group Managing Director
Leathams Ltd
Date of Issue: 01/05/22
Version: 1.1-POL-2
Annexure 1: Modern Slavery Definitions
- Slavery occurs when someone is:
- Forced to work, through mental or physical threat; or
- Owned or controlled by an “employer”; or
- Dehumanised or treated as a commodity; or
- Physically constrained or has restrictions placed on his/her freedom of movement
- Human Trafficking (also known as trafficking in persons) is a form of modern slavery. It involves the movement and/or harbouring of people against their will and under the control of others for the purpose of exploitation (whether financial or otherwise). The definition of Human Trafficking involves:
- An act: the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons
- By the means of: threat, force or coercion, abduction, fraud or deception, abuse of power or a position of vulnerability, or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits
- For the purpose of: having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation