This statement constitutes Ahmad Tea’s slavery statement for the financial year ended 31 January 2025.
Ahmad Tea has always maintained a working environment which upholds each individual to their highest potential. We foster working relationships based on dignity and respect and pursue our business with the aim of enriching the standard of living for all connected to our brand.
In particular, Ahmad Tea continues to improve its practices to identify and eliminate any slavery and human trafficking in its business and supply chains, in accordance to Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act (UK) 2015.
Ahmad Tea will not knowingly support or do business with any person or organisation involved in slavery or trafficking. Moreover we are improving our business practices to deepen the transparency we need to identify potential risks to all human rights within our supply chain.
Each year we try to improve our process of identifying risk within our supply chain and carefully maintain a risk register which is reported to me as Chairman.
Our company’s code of conduct is referred to as Ahmad Tea’s Social Responsibility Standards
It contains within it our human rights and environmental policy. This forms the basis of all our procurement contracts and the starting basis for buying tea.
Ahmad Tea’s Social Responsibility Standards includes provisions against modern slavery and human trafficking, child labour, forced and compulsory labour, non-discrimination, wages and enhance whistleblowing procedures. This forms the basis of every contract of employment and contract for sale of goods we have in place. Any breach of our Standards will result in a breach of contract.
In the case of tea suppliers, a breach of our Standards does not automatically mean a breach of contract. Instead, we place the tea supplier on amber warning and give them a time-frame in which to evidence corrective action and improved safeguarding. We also follow up with a visit and audit.
Our approach differs for tea suppliers due to our understanding that hundreds of workers rely on the income they make from picking tea and without a livelihood we could be exasperating the risk of trafficking, bonded labour and slavery. Policies are in place to minimise any risk of slavery and trafficking in our supply chains through due diligence reporting required in our procurement process with suppliers.
Human Rights Impact Assessment: Every year Ahmad Tea conducts a human rights impact assessment within our supply chain across our key tea sourcing countries, Sri Lanka, East Africa and India, to understand how to address direct and indirect human rights impact of our operations.
We look at three key risk areas:
Mapping Risk: Once a map of risk has been identified, our human rights and sustainability compliance team then look at how we can work together with our suppliers to improve standards and build stronger safeguarding measures.
Tracking Compliance: We begin with our procurement contracts and the tracking of our purchase orders. We then visit suppliers and carry out audits. We also support suppliers with seminars, research and information to improve standards and reduce risk of modern slavery.
Investing in Projects: Where the risk is higher, such as in the tea gardens, our company recognises our shared mutual responsibility and invests in projects aimed at eliminating unpaid or child labour, which includes safeguarding against trafficking and early childhood marriage.
Examples of measures we have taken:
Tea Sourced: 40% of our tea comes from Assam
Risk: Women’s health, sanitation and health. Low income.
Early childhood education, nutrition, risk of trafficking and teenage marriage.
Project (1) Objectives: Child in Need Institute India (CINI) are helping us to develop child friendly tea communities within our supply chain in Assam, with a focus on strengthening female health and reducing malnutrition, maternal mortality, child trafficking and improved childhood education.
Target:
Tea Sourced: 30% of our tea comes from Sri Lanka
Risk: Women’s health and sanitation. Access to health services. Low income. Living wage.
Project (1) Objectives: Collaboration with Horana Plantations, Centre for Child Rights and Business and the Plantation Human Development Trust Sri Lanka.
Target:
Tea Sourced: 30% of our tea comes from Kenya
Risk: Women’s health and sanitation. Low income. Child access to education and nutrition.
Project (1) Objectives:
Collaboration with Rubycup and Alstar in Kenya and Ufulu in Malawi, to create safe spaces for women to share welfare issues, administer workshops on female health and provide free period products with training.
Targets:
Our Company operates a whistleblowing procedure throughout of supply chain and employees, workers, temporary workers and subcontractors are made aware of the correct steps for an issue to be raised with Head Office.
All subsidiaries, suppliers and partners submit their due diligence reports to our legal officer and we also conduct independent audits of our supply chain, which includes the tea gardens. Our Legal officer then recommends ways in which we can improve our compliance with the Modern Slavery Act and continue to maintain our own high ethical standards. Our legal officer, Ms Zahra Afshar, can be contacted via her email [email protected]
If you have any queries regarding this Statement please write to: The Legal Department, Ahmad Tea Ltd, Winchester Road, Chandlers Ford, Hampshire, England, UK, SO53 2PZ
We endeavour to uphold this Statement and Ahmad Tea’s Social Responsibility Standards as best we can and with as much transparency as is achievable. We continue to be monitored by external auditors to ensure our business practices, quality, management and environmental standards are to the highest standard.
Signed
Approved by Mr Rahim Afshar, Chairman for Ahmad Tea on the 25th February 2025
