Modern Slavery Statement

This statement sets out the steps taken by A.G. BARR p.l.c. during the financial year ended 28 January 2024 to understand, monitor and ensure that our business and supply chain remain free from slavery and human trafficking. This statement covers A.G. BARR p.l.c. and Funkin Limited.

Summary 

We are committed to ensuring that we supply high quality products that are sourced and manufactured in a fair, ethical and environmentally responsible way. We have a zero tolerance approach to slavery and human trafficking of any kind within our operations and supply chain. Our employees are encouraged to report any concerns that they may have on such matters and management is required to act upon them.  

We have taken and will continue to take a number of steps to mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking taking place in any part of our business or supply chain. We are proud of the steps that we have taken to date, which include:

• implementing a formal supplier approval process for our direct material supply base, which focusses on human rights and labour standards policies; 
• directly auditing our key materials supply base on a periodic basis and using a risk-based approach; and 
• obtaining UK Living Wage employer accreditation, thereby demonstrating our commitment to ensuring that our employees and contractors receive at least the minimum appropriate living wage rate set by the Living Wage Foundation.   

Our business

At our core, we are a branded soft drinks business operating in the food and drink sector. We also operate within the cocktail mixer market through our FUNKIN brand and the plant-based milk market through our MOMA brand. We are a business operating across the UK and have a growing international presence. We have around 1,000 employees and we operate from nine locations across the UK.

Our supply chain

Our supply chain is global and includes over 78 direct material suppliers across the UK, Western Europe, Southeast Asia and South America. We buy from these suppliers on a direct basis and also through UK based supply agencies. In addition, we have several hundred indirect material and service providers.

Our policies on slavery and human trafficking

We operate a Supplier Code of Conduct that reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all of our business relationships. Our Supplier Code of Conduct is an important part of our framework for mitigating the slavery and human trafficking risk. It sets out our standards and the standards that we expect from our suppliers in relation to treatment of workers, the prevention of child labour, legal compliance, non-discrimination and health & safety. We monitor and measure supplier compliance against our Supplier Code of Conduct through our supplier approval and audit processes.

The acceptance of our Supplier Code of Conduct is a mandatory trading requirement for all new direct suppliers.

Our policy on employee whistle-blowing

We operate a Speaking Up Policy, which grants our employees the opportunity to confidentially raise concerns about the activities of the company on a wide range of matters, including any failure of the company to comply with its legal obligations. Employees who raise concerns in good faith under the policy are protected from repercussions.

Due diligence processes for slavery and human trafficking

We acknowledge the risk of slavery and human trafficking taking place in our supply chain. We adopt a risk-based approach in our selection of suppliers and ethical trading is an important part of our risk assessment. In order to identify, monitor and mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking taking place within our supply chain, we take the following steps: 

Our contract tender process requires the completion of a formal supplier approval questionnaire, which includes an assessment of our suppliers’ human rights and labour standards status; and 

Our supplier audit programme allows us to periodically assess working conditions at our key suppliers’ production sites in order to verify that relevant policies are being adhered to.

Training

Our Procurement team is qualified to understand the importance of ethical trading and the risks of slavery and human trafficking. 

This statement is made in line with the requirements of section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and was approved by the A.G. BARR p.l.c. Board of Directors on 31 May 2024.

Euan Sutherland

Chief Executive 

31 May 2024