Mordern Slavery

Organisation structure and supply chain:

GOODS 2 U works with a wide range of businesses in the UK from leading high street and online retailers to SMEs and micro-sellers. We also deliver for consumers through our https://www.goods2u.uk website.

We engage a range of third-party suppliers to provide goods, services and labour to us (our “Suppliers”). These Suppliers include suppliers of fleet vehicles, parcel sortation equipment, mobile scanning hardware and software and cloud-based technology as well as warehouse workers and HGV drivers via agencies.

We are committed to the sustainable development of our business in a way that reconciles economic success with the social wellbeing of individuals that are employed by us or are involved in the provision of services to us.

We understand that slavery, human trafficking, servitude and forced labour (“Modern Slavery”) is a global and increasing challenge for governments and business.

Policies and Contractual Terms on Slavery and Human Trafficking

We recognise our responsibility to be aware of the risk of modern slavery within our own organisation and supply chain.

Since we started, we introduced a Code of Conduct (“the Code”) into the business. A copy of the Code can be found by clicking on the relevant link found below this statement.

The Code acts as the cornerstone of our Social Compliance strategy which includes audits, complaints procedure and a whistleblowing process and is based on ethical, moral and legal principles providing a framework for all that we do.

Our Suppliers and Service Providers can expect us to comply with the law, observe ethical standards and act as a fair business partner. In turn, we expect our Suppliers and Service Providers to apply the same standards. We make an unambiguous commitment in the Code to treat our Service Providers and suppliers with dignity and respect.

The Code defines what modern slavery means and makes clear that it is prohibited in our operations and supply chain. GOODS2U and our employees will not engage in, facilitate or fail to report any activity that might lead to, or suggest, a breach of our Code in this respect. Likewise, our Suppliers and Service Providers must not engage in, facilitate or fail to report any activity that might lead to, or suggest, a breach of those principles.

The Code includes a complaints procedure under which alleged breaches of the Code can be raised and will then be investigated.

There is also a company wide Anti-slavery and Human Trafficking policy that is publicly available on the website which sets out our commitment to ensuring transparency in our business and our approach to tackling modern slavery. This policy will be updated this year after external legal review.

All new employees undergo all the legally required pre-employment checks to ensure identity is correct and that there is full right to work in the UK and all are paid National Living Wage or above, regardless of age.

Due diligence processes

To seek to prevent slavery and trafficking in our business and supply chains we send a copy of our Code of Conduct to any company applying to work with GOODS2U through a formal tender process. The Code forms a part of the contract we have with Suppliers and most contracts include an obligation to comply with the Code.

New third-party relationships are subject to specific questioning regarding compliance with the Modern Slavery Act and the Code; and we have modified our procurement procedures to address the risk of slavery and trafficking.

Training on modern slavery and trafficking

 All staff are required to complete mandatory online training to ensure they are aware of modern slavery and signs to look out for in identifying it.

On top of mandatory online testing for all employees, we have worked with the Slave Free Alliance to develop more detailed and specific training for those employees within our operation who are engaging with self-employed Service Providers daily. 

In the coming year we will look at rolling out the training from the CDMs to employees in other roles, including more operational colleagues within our transport, hub and depot operations where we frequently use agency staff.

The mandatory training for all employees will also be reviewed and updated for the coming year 2024/25.