We champion the best labour standards in our supply chains, acting responsibly towards the workers who make our products and being proud of how we behave towards the people we do business with.
Co-op is committed to supporting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and protecting the fundamental rights of workers in our supply chain. In line with this, our 'Sound Sourcing Code of Conduct' sets out the workplace and employment standards that we apply across our supply base, which is based on the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code and other core international labour standards. We’re committed to driving improvements for working conditions and aim to be the UK's leading retailer in this vital area.
We believe that everyone deserves to be treated fairly.
Driving continuous improvements in working conditions in a global supply chain is a shared responsibility, between us and our suppliers. That’s why we have a ‘Supplier’s Guide to Ethical Trade’ setting out the standards we expect our suppliers to meet and a comprehensive supplier engagement programme to support suppliers in working toward meeting these standards.
We recognise that issues can be systemic and require long-term, sustainable improvements to address root causes and drive change. We don’t have a ‘cut and run’ approach, instead we’re committed to working with suppliers, understanding there is no ‘quick fix’ and firmly believe that collective effort will lead to significant and impactful results. Read more about our Human Rights Focus and work on the ground.
We know that human rights violations will only stop if we all work together, so we work with key partners and member groups to share what we know and combine our efforts.
Our other key partners include groups and initiatives such as the Modern Slavery Intelligence Network (MSIN), Unseen and the Spanish Ethical Trade Forums. For further details about our collaborative work with key partners please refer to our Modern Slavery Statement.
Collaboration is at the very heart of our approach. We believe collaboration is essential to developing sustainable solutions to issues that put workers’ interests first. We take this approach in the way we implement our monitoring programme, the way we work with our suppliers and peers to identify solutions to challenging issues, and the way we deliver our supplier engagement activities.
Working with our suppliers to deliver long-term sustainable change, the key behaviours we champion are:
To recognise supplier best practice, we host our Treating People Fairly Awards and publish supplier case studies to showcase excellence in human rights practice. The case studies encourage suppliers to learn from each other and inspire new ways of mitigating future threats to labour rights and worker welfare.
We have key ways in which we drive improvements to working conditions, making sure that the workers who make our products are treated responsibly and ethically.
With growing challenges and increasingly long and complex supply chains, building strong supplier relations based on trust and transparency is key to achieving long-term and sustainable improvements to working conditions in the supply base. Read more about our human rights focus here.
The Co-op food ethical trading monitoring programme aims to stamp out modern slavery and other exploitative working practices across the world, with regular checks on our suppliers and producers.
Our ethical trade monitoring programme reaches over 758,339 workers in 3,035 sites* located in 63 countries across 6 continents. 100% of Tier 1 sites have completed a Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) and 100 % of Tier 1 high risk sites are independently audited. We’ve mapped and risk assessed our supply base beyond Tier 1 in high-risk categories such as produce and seafood. When we find issues, we work with our suppliers to put things right. In our 2024 monitoring programme figures, we reported to have 1,581 valid audits across our supplying sites. 6,778 issues were raised in these audits, in which (87 % are completed, and we’ve agreed a plan to complete the remaining 13% in 2025).
†665 Tier 1 and 2,370 beyond Tier 1. Data correct as reported in our Social Value and Sustainability Report 2024 where more information can be found.
We have a well-established global supplier engagement programme of supplier workshops in key sourcing countries designed to listen to and support our suppliers in tackling human rights issues affecting workers. We also raise awareness of Co-op’s values, expectations, and strategy, and provide guidance on local labour law and Code requirements. In recent years we have focused our capacity building on responding to topical human rights issues and growing risks of labour exploitation in our supply chains.
We’ve established a Strategic Human Rights & Ethical Trade Forum with our key suppliers, providing a safe space for us to talk about protecting people in our supply chain. Topics covered have included identifying risk and tackling modern slavery, consultations on new policies, supplier case studies, and horizon scanning workshops to inform future strategy.
In Spain and Egypt we’ve played a central role in building local forums to address key challenges and share good practice. In Italy we’re working collaboratively to improve working conditions for migrant workers in agriculture. Read more about our global identified high risk areas here.
Our regional forums bring suppliers together to discuss challenges and address key issues on their sites.
Our Treating People Fairly Awards celebrate suppliers that are demonstrating a significant commitment to ethical trade and making a positive impact for workers through their actions. Read their case studies here
