Company Overview
Established in 1978, Farr Vintners Ltd is now one of the UK’s leading Wholesale Fine Wine Merchants, employing 24 people in its London Office and 5 in its Farr Vintners (Asia) Subsidiary in Hong Kong.
Farr Vintners prides itself on its successful trading record supplying the best wines in the world to customers in the UK and overseas. This success is based on a low-margin, quick turnover model and on providing expert, unbiased and honest advice.
Policies and Principles
We recognise our obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and are committed to conducting business ethically and to ensuring that the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking is mitigated within our business and supply chain. We consider modern slavery to encompass human trafficking, forced work, being owned by an employer, being physically constrained, dehumanised or bought or sold as a commodity or being denied freedom of movement. We understand that our commitment requires an ongoing review of our procedures and business relationships. We pledge to refrain from conducting business with any individual or organisation that is found to engage in or support any form of modern slavery.
All our employees are engaged on full-time, permanent, guaranteed-hours contracts and no offers of employment are made on a zero-hours basis. We strictly adhere to but often far exceed the minimum standards required in relation to our responsibilities under relevant employment legislation in the United Kingdom and in Hong Kong. All employees are offered competitive remuneration packages and are assessed regularly to gauge levels of achievement, satisfaction and career progression. We have a very long-serving and loyal team of employees due, in part, to these sound employment policies.
Potential Exposure and Steps Taken
We consider our exposure to modern slavery to be limited, but have implemented the following measures in order to guard against such practices taking place within our own business and in those of our supply chain and customer base:
In accordance with section 54(4) of the Modern slavery Act 2015 we always carry out careful due diligence on any potential supplier and recently contacted all our existing suppliers in order to explain our zero tolerance stance on modern slavery and to ensure that that this is not taking place with their organisations.
We have made it clear to all these organisations that we expect them to inform us of any infringements to this policy and have encouraged contacts within these companies to let us know of any such incidents.
To date we have not been advised of any such incidents.
Training
All new members of staff undertake a thorough induction process which includes learning about our company policies relating to standards of behaviour. As a small company where all staff members are in frequent contact with one another, these standards are very evident and easily adopted by new members of staff.
Assessment of Effectiveness in combatting Modern Slavery
Details of all active suppliers are kept up to date on our bespoke CRM software and those members of staff who deal with our supply chain are aware of their responsibility to report any concerns regarding modern slavery to the person responsible for enforcing the company policy.
Review
This statement is made in pursuance of section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2010 and applies to our Head Office in London and our Subsidiary Office in Hong Kong. It was approved by the Board of Directors in January 2024 and we undertake to review this policy every financial year.
Stephen Browett
Chairman
