Adnams Modern Slavery sTatement

This statement has been published in accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015. It sets out the steps taken by Adnams plc, up to our financial year end of 31st December 2022, to prevent modern slavery and human trafficking in our business and supply chains.

Our Business

Adnams is a brewer and distiller, pub owner and retailer based in Southwold on the east coast of Suffolk where it has been producing a range of award-winning beers and spirits for more than 150 years. It is a company defined by its values which can be summarised as not just “doing things right” but “doing things the right way”.

Our values are our guiding principles and as such plot the route for us to follow, from reducing our environmental impact to helping the communities in which we and our suppliers operate.

Our Supply Chains

With a diverse portfolio of products and services Adnams has over one thousand tier one suppliers from whom we are actively sourcing at any given time. These range from local to international farmers providing raw materials for our beers or food for our chefs, internationally sourced independent wines and UK based multinational drinks businesses.

As a manufacturer of beers and spirits we are required to source raw materials as ingredients from around the world operating in a multitude of differing conditions and each facing unique challenges; for which we recognise as a key risk to our organisation.

Having a 150-year history of producing quality products most of our supply partners are long standing, sharing our core values and principles and thus allowing for open dialogue on key issues such as Modern Slavery.

Policies

Our internal policies on purchases are set out in our procurement policy, which confirms we will not tolerate abuse of human rights within any part of our business or supply chain.

Adnams recognises that our employees are fundamental to our business and as such ensure our own employment procedures and checks minimise the risk of any kind of modern slavery practices taking place within our own business. These procedures and checks are also applied to any staff employment via contracted or agency services that may be provided to us.

Our employment policies safeguard our staff, contractors, consultants or those acting on behalf of Adnams, allowing them to raise concerns and provide them access to confidential whistleblowing processes as written in our Whistleblowing Policy which easily is accessible to all our staff and is available to our suppliers upon request.

In 2022 we developed a Supplier Code of Conduct to detail our expected values and behaviours of our suppliers; this will be included in the onboarding of new suppliers and any new contracts in 2023. Existing suppliers who were on board prior to the development of the code will be approached with acceptance expected.

Due Diligence processes

It is the responsibility of all senior managers to ensure that any procurement or hiring undertaken within their areas follows Adnams policies and adheres to our core values, including the regular review of suppliers for suitability and risk.

In 2022 we incorporated several additional processes to monitoring risk within our supply chain. Firstly, we signed a multi-year agreement with SEDEX a multinational data platform for supply chain assessment on the pillars of Labour Standards, Health & Safety, Environmental and Business Ethics as well as the consolidation of SMETA audits.

Building upon this we incorporated our own internal data to provide a reporting platform for our management teams to easily review and monitor potential risks providing them with the capability to make any action required to remove or mitigate any identified risks.

A formalised review process was implemented in 2022 whereby our supply chain is regularly reviewed by our Executive Directors to ensure areas of ethical, environmental, and modern slavery are given the utmost focus and attention.

In 2023 we will update our whistleblowing policy to ensure it continues to be relevant and fit purposes.

Adnams Assessment of Modern Slavery risk within our supply chain

In the year ending 31st December 2022 Adnams procured products or services, either directly or indirectly, from up to 40 countries worldwide. The majority of our spend has been with suppliers based either in the UK or the European Union.

As 2022 saw the continued reduction of pandemic restrictions our supply chain increased both in supplier count and changes to countries of spend, in each case the appropriate due diligence was followed.

We recognise that one of our biggest risks within our supply chain is where we are not purchasing directly from the primary producer and are therefore reliant upon our suppliers to ensure that these policies are followed. We identified in our 2021 statement that we had a potential risk within our botanicals supply chain which we continue to recognise as a higher risk of modern slavery. We have engaged with our key supplier to establish what methods they use to minimise this risk which includes a mix of direct audits, external accreditations, and regular engagement with their supplier base. We will continue to work with our supplier to reduce the risk further.

With legislations ever changing, either tightening or relaxing checks and controls it is important to maintain a review of our suppliers when these changes have been made, we are therefore extending our checks and expectations of our hop suppliers particularly from the United States.

We will continue to review this policy and undertake the necessary actions, including moving the business away from suppliers should we have concerns about their compliance with this policy, the law on modern slavery or any of their ethical or environmental practices.

Policies

Our internal policies on purchases are set out in our procurement policy, which confirms we will not tolerate abuse of human rights within any part of our business or supply chain.

Adnams recognises that our employees are fundamental to our business and as such ensure our own employment procedures and checks minimise the risk of any kind of modern slavery practices taking place within our own business. These procedures and checks are also applied to any staff employment via contracted or agency services that may be provided to us.

Our employment policies safeguard our staff, contractors, consultants or those acting on behalf of Adnams, allowing them to raise concerns and provide them access to confidential whistleblowing processes as written in our Whistleblowing Policy which easily is accessible to all our staff and is available to our suppliers upon request.

In 2022 we developed a Supplier Code of Conduct to detail our expected values and behaviours of our suppliers; this will be included in the onboarding of new suppliers and any new contracts in 2023. Existing suppliers who were on board prior to the development of the code will be approached with acceptance expected.

Due Diligence processes

It is the responsibility of all senior managers to ensure that any procurement or hiring undertaken within their areas follows Adnams policies and adheres to our core values, including the regular review of suppliers for suitability and risk.

In 2022 we incorporated several additional processes to monitoring risk within our supply chain. Firstly, we signed a multi-year agreement with SEDEX a multinational data platform for supply chain assessment on the pillars of Labour Standards, Health & Safety, Environmental and Business Ethics as well as the consolidation of SMETA audits.

Building upon this we incorporated our own internal data to provide a reporting platform for our management teams to easily review and monitor potential risks providing them with the capability to make any action required to remove or mitigate any identified risks.
A formalised review process was implemented in 2022 whereby our supply chain is regularly reviewed by our Executive Directors to ensure areas of ethical, environmental, and modern slavery are given the utmost focus and attention.

In 2023 we will update our whistleblowing policy to ensure it continues to be relevant and fit purposes.

Assessment of Modern Slavery risk within our supply chain

In the year ending 31st December 2022 Adnams procured products or services, either directly or indirectly, from up to 40 countries worldwide. The majority of our spend has been with suppliers based either in the UK or the European Union.

As 2022 saw the continued reduction of pandemic restrictions our supply chain increased both in supplier count and changes to countries of spend, in each case the appropriate due diligence was followed.

We recognise that one of our biggest risks within our supply chain is where we are not purchasing directly from the primary producer and are therefore reliant upon our suppliers to ensure that these policies are followed. We identified in our 2021 statement that we had a potential risk within our botanicals supply chain which we continue to recognise as a higher risk of modern slavery. We have engaged with our key supplier to establish what methods they use to minimise this risk which includes a mix of direct audits, external accreditations, and regular engagement with their supplier base. We will continue to work with our supplier to reduce the risk further.

With legislations ever changing, either tightening or relaxing checks and controls it is important to maintain a review of our suppliers when these changes have been made, we are therefore extending our checks and expectations of our hop suppliers particularly from the United States.

We will continue to review this policy and undertake the necessary actions, including moving the business away from suppliers should we have concerns about their compliance with this policy, the law on modern slavery or any of their ethical or environmental practices.

Modern Slavery Training

All key members of staff with touch points to either our suppliers or our recruitment processes have been trained to enable them to identify any potential risks and to escalate these should it be necessary. 2022 saw extended refresher training for our key employees as well as an expansion to those who could benefit from it.

Further Steps to prevent Modern Slavery in our supply chain:

Adnams maintains active membership within a number of trade, regulatory and voluntary bodies to share resources, knowledge and best practices thereby ensuring continued improvement in knowledge by our employees and peers.

We continue, where relevant and applicable, to offer our expertise to suppliers and partners to ensure that they understand the regulations and our policies.

Wherever practical we move the supply of high-risk items to products which are verified as complying with these regulations by other relevant recognised bodies such as Fairtrade and Rain Forest Alliance.

Assessment of effectiveness in preventing Modern Slavery

We understand that the Modern Slavery risk is not static, and we will continue to work with our suppliers to mitigate this risk and further in 2023 we commit ourselves to continuous improvement within this area; specifically, improving upon our new risk management tools, and extending our internal risk review process to be more comprehensive with regular review at multiple levels of our operations.

We also intend to introduce a Modern Slavery Awareness short course as part of our internal training schemes that will be rolled out to all our employees and providing everyone in our business basic but key awareness of the issues of modern day slavery.

This statement was approved by the board of directors of Adnams plc on the 31st March 2023.


Jenny Hanlon

Our Previous Statements