MODERN SLAVERY ACT STATEMENT
The Modern Slavery Act 2015 places a duty on certain businesses to report publicly, the steps that it has taken or is intending to take to ensure that their operations and supply chains are trafficking and slavery free. Rhubarb Hospitality Collection is a company that is committed to ensuring the welfare and well-being of our employees as well as those with whom we work as part of our supply chain.
As a Director of Rhubarb Hospitality Collection and on behalf of the Board, I welcome the Modern Slavery Act as an important piece of legislation that will not only help achieve greater transparency in supply chains but which will also protect those who are vulnerable.
Laraine Beament, 1st January 2022
Chief Financial Officer
Rhubarb Hospitality Collection and Our Supply Chains
In being able to create and deliver culinary memories for our guests, whether at an event in an iconic location or dining in one of the restaurants within our flourishing portfolio, Rhubarb Hospitality Collection works with many different suppliers. These include food and beverage suppliers, suppliers of contract workers as well as suppliers of equipment and other services that help us to deliver a premium culinary and dining experience. Rhubarb Hospitality Collection works with many local and national suppliers who we believe are also committed to eliminating exploitation of, trafficking and slavery and who value sustainability and ethical trading.
We have a management team that comprises 9 individuals (https://www.Rhubarb Hospitality Collectiongroup.com/en/about/meet-the-team/) that covers the principal areas of our business including Operations, Finance, Marketing, Human Resources, Events, Travel, Sales, Restaurants and Retail and Cuisine.
We employ approximately 600 members of staff and draw from a pool of approximately 1,000 workers from reputable and licensed agencies that offer the services of their workers to assist the company in delivering catering events across the UK.
The senior management team along with human resources are responsible for Rhubarb Hospitality Collection’s anti-slavery initiatives. These initiatives will include the implementation of policies, risk assessments, investigations, due diligence and staff training.
Our Policies
As a business, we are committed to ensuring that our legal obligations relating to pay under the National Minimum Wage as well as the National Living Wage are met both for our own staff and those additional staff that we use at our events through agencies. We are also committed to ensuring that all workers’ rights relating to working time and breaks as set out in the Working Time Regulations are met. We also adhere to Health & Safety legislation to ensure that our staff and workers are able to work in a healthy and safe environment.
In addition to our Equal Opportunities Policy that applies to all of our staff (both employees and workers), the Company also operates a Whistleblowing Policy that provides practical guidance on the steps that an individual can take in confidence if he/she reasonably believes that some wrongdoing has taken place; is in the process of taking place; or is likely to take place. Wrongdoing would include any practices that relate to human trafficking and slavery. Anyone who raises a concern under this Policy will be protected against suffering any detriment for having raised their concerns.
Due Diligence of Suppliers
We conduct a risk assessment with all of our suppliers to enable us to satisfy that they share our commitment to eliminating slavery and human trafficking. Part of this process entails us asking our suppliers to provide us with details of the measures that they take to ensure that their own organisations and operations are free from slavery and human trafficking. We also inform our suppliers that we expect them to ensure that our standards (as well as any higher standards that they may also apply) are also applied to their own suppliers and sub-contractors. Over time, we anticipate that our due diligence and risk assessment processes will become more refined which will help us to achieve our objectives.
We also ensure that the agencies that we use to obtain auxiliary staffing for our events are licensed labour providers under the provisions of the Gangmaster Licensing Act 2004 and that they adhere to the main standards required within that legislation.
How will we / do we train our staff on anti-slavery measures?
All of our staff are aware of our Slavery & Human Trafficking Statement and the Company’s commitment to eliminating human trafficking and slavery within our operations and across our supply chains. Where members of staff work directly with our supply chains, we provide them with training to enable them to understand better the standards that we require as a business and the important role that they play in helping the Company to identify risks that may arise. Staff will also carry out spot checks of auxiliary workers that are supplied to us by our licenced staffing suppliers.
This statement is made pursuant to s54(1) Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 31st December 2022.