Dodds & Shute Modern Slavery Statement: Financial year July 2022-June 2023

1. Introduction

This statement has been published in accordance with Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. It sets out the steps taken by Dodds & Shute for the period financial year July 2022 – June 2023 to prevent modern slavery and human trafficking in our business operations and supply chains.

2. About Dodds & Shute and our commitment to the principles of the Modern Slavery Act 2015

We are a design-led procurement company, dedicated to sourcing the most sustainable products. We work with hundreds of FF&E manufacturers to source products from across the world. Our organisational structure is overseen by our Board of Directors. We are committed to the abolition of modern slavery and human trafficking and to ensuring that the companies with which we work share our values.

Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights. It encompasses slavery, servitude, human trafficking and forced labour, 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. We have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery, and we are committed to acting ethically and with transparency and have implemented policies to safeguard against any form of modern slavery taking place within our business or supply chain.

3. Our supply chain

While our supply chain is global, 69% of our manufacturers are based in Europe, 25% are UK based, a further 5% in the USA and the remaining are from the rest of the world. In total we work with hundreds of manufacturers, however, less than 100 are considered key suppliers as they make up 80% of the work that we do.

4. Our policies in relation to the Modern Slavery Act 2015

The following policies are in place to manage modern slavery and human trafficking risk in our business and supply chain:

–Supplier Code of Conduct
–Supplier Sustainability Audit
–Whistleblowing Policy & Procedures
–Modern Slavery Statement within our Staff Handbook
–Anti-Harassment Policy & Complaint Procedure
–Hiring and Employment Policy
–Responsible Sourcing Policy

5. Risk assessment and due diligence

At Dodds & Shute, in 2022 we launched our Supplier Code of Conduct, which we have been rolling out across our key suppliers, as a priority, and our wider supply chain to ensure our suppliers are committing to the UN Global Compact, which covers human rights and labour issues in detail. Through this process we are doing essential due diligence on our supply chain to mitigate the area of our business with the greatest risk of modern slavery.

This statement has been approved by our Board of Directors – Stefan Dodds, Nick Shute and Michael Hooper – for the financial year ending 30 June 2023.

This statement will be reviewed and updated annually.