Modern Slavery Statement 2023/4

Since 1882, the Fenwick brand has been synonymous with sourcing quality products for our customers. We are a family-owned department store, trading online and from 8 stores across the UK with over 1,900 colleagues.

Differentiating our business by the availability and calibre of brands and the quality of our customer experience, we offer a unique blend of concessions, high-fashion brands and Fenwick own-brand products.

Many of our concession partners have a global footprint. However, Fenwick’s own-brand network of suppliers are based in China, Europe, Germany, Portugal, Italy and the United Kingdom.

We are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business. Our Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy reflects our commitment to act ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implement and enforce effective systems and controls to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place anywhere in our supply chains. We continuously review and updates all of our policies. In addition, we encourage our employees to Be Bold and Courageous in speaking out if they have any concerns, such concerns being managed under our Whistleblowing Policy.

As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk we are establishing robust processes and systems allow us to:

• Identify and assess potential risk areas in our supply chains
• Mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our supply chains;
• Monitor potential risk areas in our supply chains; and
• Protect whistle blowers.

Fenwick has zero tolerance to slavery and human trafficking. We are continuing to implement our supply chain compliance programme, which, once implemented will ensure all those in our supply chain and contractors comply with our values. Our supply chain compliance programme consists of:

• Ensuring that all suppliers go through a consistent onboarding process;
• Implementing corrective action plans as may be required following supplier audits;
• Adherence to the new Supplier Manual rolled out in January 2023;
• Maintaining a centralised database of all own-brand suppliers; and
• Continuing to raise awareness of modern slavery within the business by offering training to colleagues.

During the trading year 2023 / 24 the Company has made significant progress in in broadening the awareness and impact of its ESG strategy. With the continuous support of the board and the engagement of leading external consultants, the Company became a member of Sedex in order to manage, assess and report on sustainability performances and goals. In conjunction with the Company’s membership of this leading platform, a highly successful and interactive internal roadshow was launched for Fenwick employees.

To compliment our Sedex membership and roadshow commencement, we redefined our sustainability strategy, introducing a new core ‘pillar’ in our ESG approach: Equality. Fenwick acknowledges that all stakeholders in the supply chain should have equal rights and be protected from any form of modern slavery.

This work has established a sound platform on which to build for the future as the own-brand offer grows. This platform has allowed us to look outside of our immediate organisation and ensure each player in the supply chain and wider business connections is compliant with their legal obligations. In doing so, Fenwick are in the preliminary stages of drafting ‘criteria’ for suppliers. Fenwick already asks all own-brand suppliers to submit independent social compliance audit reports for all primary manufacturing units used for Fenwick merchandise, ensuring any corrective action plans are implemented. However, to ensure all-round compliance, Fenwick is working on a criterium project to allow the necessary due diligence for all prospective and current suppliers to be completed prior to onboarding.

Following a review of the effectiveness of the steps we have taken in FY 2023/24 to ensure that there is no slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains we intend to take the following further steps to combat slavery and human trafficking.

• Work alongside Sedex to onboard appropriate suppliers and regularly carry out audits;
• Extend training to the Merchandising and Warehouse teams on Modern Slavery risks;
• The addition of a modern slavery section in our Supplier Manual;
• Produce updated own-brand labels to ensure compliance with our legal obligations;
• Following the introduction of our ‘Equality’ pillar, the commencement of initiatives focusing on community and supplier engagement;
• Ensure existing policies and frameworks are reviewed during the trading year and reflect enhanced practices.

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending February 2024.