policies

COACH HOUSE MODERN SLAVERY STATEMENT

January 2023

Coach House welcomes the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

Global awareness of modern slavery (slavery, forced labour, servitude and human trafficking) is rising.

Structure and Supply Chains

Chairs Limited Trading as Coach House is a trade only business selling Furniture, Accessories, Floral, Seasonal and Outdoor goods. We are leaders in our field, having been established for over 35 years, and operate out of our base in Lancashire with approximately 200 employees covering Sales, Operations and Warehousing.

We source from Asia and South East Asia in the main, together with India, parts of Europe and the UK. Our customers are comprised of independent retailers, hoteliers, interior designers and property developers.

Each of our suppliers has received a copy of this statement which sets out our expectations with regard to our prohibition of modern slavery.

Our suppliers are identified through trade fairs and while some will inevitably be new to us, we have been dealing with the majority for many years. Our main suppliers are visited on a regular basis by local agents who check for compliance with our policies. Our owners also visit suppliers and check the running of factories and that standards are maintained. We operate in an open and honest way with our suppliers and pride ourselves on prompt payment and maintaining excellent working relationships with them.

We operate a zero tolerance approach to slavery and human trafficking. To ensure our suppliers comply with our policies we require them to read, confirm their understanding and sign up to our requirements.

We work in partnership with two Freight Forwarders, who are committed to improving their practices to combat slavery and human trafficking to ensure that there is no slavery or human trafficking in any part of their business.

We operate a simple “straight line” supply chain

We are a carbon neutral company and will strive to maintain this throughout our supply chain and are implementing a sustainable packaging programme across 2020.

Coach House sources product from India, Indonesia and China in the main as well as the UK, and works closely and collaboratively with our suppliers. We inspect them regularly and expect the highest standards. Inspections are carried out by our own overseas Quality Controllers and by means of Factory Audits which are conducted by independent third-party Auditors.

We are members of SEDEX and audits conducted on our behalf are Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audits (SMETA). These audits cover Labour standards and Health and Safety. We encourage our suppliers to become members of SEDEX.

We are committed to prohibiting any form of modern slavery from our supply chain. Our inspectors are aware of the importance we attach to integrity and doing the right thing. They are encouraged to report any incident of ethical concern that they witness, including forced labour, child labour, human trafficking or any other human rights abuses.

While no country or industry can be immune from the risks of modern slavery, it is everyone’s responsibility to take steps to guard against such risks, and we at Coach House support safe and voluntary employment within our suppliers and supply chain. We acknowledge how modern slavery and abusive labour conditions can be sustained through the procurement of goods from unethical suppliers.

We therefore encourage the reporting of any malpractice in this regard to our local agents and are developing general policies on recruitment, worker integration and protection. We hope these will embed a culture of learning in our suppliers.

We require that our suppliers respect the rights of their workers including the termination of employment and freedom of movement and association.

We prohibit in our suppliers:

The threat of violence, harassment or intimidation of any employee.

The use of worker-paid recruitment fees.

Compulsory overtime.

Child labour.

Discrimination of any kind.

Confiscation of worker Identification documents.

Our due diligence includes the routine assessment of risks posed by our operations.

These include risks at our suppliers, in our freight forwarding, and in our warehouse operations and office functions.

We carry our appropriate due diligence when engaging with our suppliers Included in this is an assessment of modern slavery risk

Coach House expects all our suppliers to fully co-operate with our Modern Slavery Policy and any subsequent investigations into abuses.

Coach House expects all suppliers to comply with all forced labour laws and to take steps to prevent human trafficking and slavery.

If any poor labour practices are identified, and there is an opportunity to influence these, Coach House will work with a supplier to achieve better practices.

In serious cases, Coach House will immediately cease contractual relations with that supplier.

We offer guidance on Modern Slavery and Trafficking to all suppliers. This is either though our local factory visits or direct from our UK base.