Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement 2024/2025

Opening Statement

Meller Group is committed to preventing modern slavery and human trafficking within its business and supply chain. We commit to upholding the principles of the United Kingdom’s Modern Slavery Act 2015 and to improving our ability to identify, prevent, mitigate, and remediate issues.

Structure of the Business and Supply Chains

Meller Group is a UK registered company which is formed of JM Brands Limited in the UK, and Meller Shanghai Trading, a Chinese subsidiary. We design and import Home Fragrance, Cosmetics, Toiletries, and associated products, supplying them to some of the UK’s most progressive and ethical High Street Retailers.

The products are supplied by 8 factories: 5 based in China, 1 in Vietnam, 1 in India, and 1 in Poland. Each factory is independently assessed by third-party auditors for compliance with the ETI base code on an annual basis.

Policies on Slavery and Human Trafficking

We have an employment policy in place that assures the identity and right to work is established for all employees; they are employed directly by Meller Group on a permanent basis.

Section 3.3 of the Supplier Manual describes our policies and procedures for managing modern slavery and human trafficking with our suppliers; the other policies within the Supplier Manual also feed into the management of modern slavery and human trafficking. We continually assess these and other policies within the Supplier Manual for suitability and potential improvements.

Due Diligence and Risk Assessment

The risk assessment for modern slavery is aligned with our strategic review. We review the following areas to enable us to direct our activity:

·         supply chain mapping;

·         data from audits;

·         supplier surveys;

·         information from desk-based research and external experts.

The majority of the information comes from analytics derived through Sedex Analytics. The largest risks have been identified as migrant and temporary workers. Migrant workers currently form 45.7% (+4.4% against the established baseline), and temporary or fixed-term contract form 27% (+4.1% against the established baseline) of the total tier 1 workforce.

The majority of temporary workers (99.9%) are at one factory; this is due to the extreme seasonal nature of the business, with additional workers required for busy periods.

The majority of migrant workers (95.2%) are at two factories. Both of these factories are located in highly developed areas where it is not unusual for the majority of the workforce to migrate from other areas of the country for work.

We have a policy that requires an annual ethical audit to take place. There are no open non-conformances associated with the ETI base code in the current supply chain.

Effectiveness and Performance

We believe that the current policies are effective for our tier 1 suppliers. The effectiveness below this level is limited. Visibility of tier 2 suppliers has improved alongside the rollout of environmental reporting requirements; this can still be improved.

Training and Resources

We are working closely with the factories to ensure that awareness of the ethical requirements is fully understood and implemented. The focus is on those factories with high temporary and migrant workers, but work with the other factories still continues.

We encourage employees to identify and report any potential breaches of our policies. Awareness posters are situated in the main office with contact details for employees to use.