We strive to protect and respect the livelihoods of all workers in our supply chain.

That means paying a fair price to suppliers, supporting local communities, and ensuring good and safe working conditions for everyone in our business and supply chain.

Targets

• 100% of Ocado Own Brand high-risk Tier 1 suppliers to complete a two-pillar SMETA Audit on a yearly basis.
• Mapping 100% of our high-risk products to source level so we can address any human rights or modern slavery risks.

Our approach

We are fully committed to promoting a food system that protects human rights and treats all people in our supply chains ethically, and to uphold the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

Human rights and modern slavery risks are part of our corporate risk matrix and monitored by our Board’s Audit Committee. In 2023, we carried out a comprehensive review of our Human Rights & Modern Slavery approach which led to a new strategic plan. We also delivered training to all colleagues and a refresher will be mandated annually.

Policy and codes of practice

Our Ocado Own Brand suppliers are required to adhere to our policies and codes of practice, including Grocery/General Merchandise Supplier Manual and Ethical Sourcing Code of Practice. These suppliers must be active members of the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (SEDEX) and complete a Sedex SelfAssessment Questionnaire on an annual basis.

Managing our supply chain risks

We use SEDEX’s Radar to risk assess our suppliers in the four SEDEX Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) pillars and 14 risk topics. This provides an inherent and combined risk rating for suppliers of Ocado Own Brand products based on factors such as country, product area, sector profile and site function. We consider risks beyond our Tier 1 (Own Brand supplying sites), and engage with those active in high-risk supply chains. This means they pack commodities (coffee, tea), produce, seafood and/or have supply chains extending to countries with known Human Rights risks.

Third party storage and distribution sites are utilised for temporary product storage and consolidation. We recognise the risk associated with these operations and in 2023 we expanded our programme to these sites.