Supplier code of conduct

Why we ask

Flower & Glory is an independent florist in Sevenoaks. Our flowers come to us through a wholesaler from the Dutch auctions and British growers, our homeware from a small number of European makers, and our parcels go out with DPD. Our orders are modest beside most of yours. We ask you to accept this code anyway, because our customers ask us where things come from and how they were made, and we want to answer them honestly. Accepting the code means you agree to the standards below for your own business and that you ask the same of the businesses you buy from.

Labour

• No forced labour. Nobody working for you or your suppliers is made to work by threat, debt, the holding of their documents, or the charging of recruitment fees. Everybody is free to leave with reasonable notice.
• No child labour. Nobody under the minimum working age in the country where the work is done, and nobody under 18 in work that is dangerous or at night.
• Wages are at least the legal minimum or the industry standard where that is higher, paid in full, on time and directly to the worker, with a payslip they can understand. Deductions are only those the law allows.
• Hours keep to the law of the country and to the sector's collective agreements where there are any; overtime is voluntary and paid at the proper rate; everybody has at least one day off in seven.
• Seasonal and agency workers are treated no worse than permanent ones, and any agency used is licensed where a licence is required.
• No discrimination in hiring, pay, promotion or dismissal because of sex, race, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, pregnancy, union membership or anything else that is not about the work.
• Respect. No harassment, abuse or corporal punishment.
• Freedom of association. Workers may join a union and bargain collectively where the law allows it, and are not punished for doing so.

Health and safety

You provide a safe place of work, with the training, protective equipment and information the work needs, particularly around chemicals, machinery and the cold. For flower growers and packers this means that pesticides are handled to the label, protective clothing is provided and used, and re-entry intervals are kept. Accommodation you provide is safe and decent.

Environment

You obey the environmental laws that apply to you. You tell us about any certification your goods carry (for flowers, schemes such as MPS, Fairtrade or Florverde; for wood, FSC or similar). You reduce packaging where you can and choose card and paper over plastic. You do not use floral foam in anything you make for us. You answer our questions about where a product was grown or made.

Anti-bribery

You do not offer our staff, or anybody acting for us, any gift, payment or hospitality that could be taken as a reward for buying from you, and you do not pay bribes on our behalf to anybody. A modest seasonal gift is fine; anything more goes to the owner. You obey the Bribery Act 2010 and the equivalent law where you are.

Honest dealing

Your invoices say what was supplied and what it cost. Your product descriptions are true: a stem's origin, a maker's country, a material. You keep our customers' details, if you ever hold them, safe and use them only for our order.

Telling us

You tell us promptly if you learn of a breach of this code in your own business or in your supply chain, and what you are doing about it. We will treat a supplier who tells us far better than one we find out about.

Our right to ask

We may ask you, at any reasonable time, for evidence of any point in this code: a policy, a certificate, an audit report, a payroll summary with names removed. Where you are within reach we may ask to visit, on notice. We will keep what you send us in confidence and use it only to satisfy ourselves.

Breaches

If we learn of a breach we will raise it with you and ask for a plan to put it right within a reasonable time. A serious breach (forced labour, child labour, bribery, a refusal to answer, or a plan not kept to) will end our trading with you. We will not knowingly buy goods made in breach of this code.

Accepting the code

Please sign below, or confirm by email, and send us a copy of any code of conduct or sourcing statement of your own; we will keep it with this one.

Supplier: ______________________________

Signed: ______________________________ Name and position: ______________________________ Date: ______________________________

Questions

Any question about this code goes to Deborah, the owner: enquiries@flowerandglory.co.uk, 01732 743419, or Flower & Glory, 12 Blacks Yard, Blighs Meadow, Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 1DS.

Changes to this code

Changes to this code are dated and logged on the page where it is published, and every supplier who has accepted it is sent the new version.