Social & Ethical Policy

Thank you for reading our Social & Ethical Policy. We hope you will find here all you wish to know about the steps that we at Robert Welch are taking to ensure that we are trading responsibly and ethically.

We aim to be a responsible business and try to meet the highest standards of ethical conduct and integrity in every corner of our business and supply chain.

We aim high and feel justly proud of every Robert Welch product and we want our customers to also.

Ever mindful of our duty to our communities and to the environment, both in the UK and overseas, our company DNA is instilled in each product on its journey from conception in our design studio to the heart of your home, where we hope our products will be used and enjoyed with pleasure year after year.

At Robert Welch, we work hard to ensure that all our operations and partnerships are open, honest and legitimate.

Robert Welch takes its social responsibilities extremely seriously and we are fully committed to ensuring that all our products have been produced lawfully and in safe and decent working conditions without the use of exploitation. We work closely with our suppliers to ensure that they share our values, to set high standards and to drive improvements through close and open relationships and accountability.

All our suppliers must comply with all applicable national and local laws and regulations including those relating to employment, immigration, health and safety, intellectual property, human rights, social and ethical conduct, including anti-bribery, and the environment. They are also obliged to comply with our own Supplier Code of Conduct which is based on universally accepted, fundamental principles and local laws and is aligned with the Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code (visit https://www.ethicaltrade.org/eti-base-code).

Our Supplier Code of Conduct represents our commitment to source goods from suppliers who value and incorporate the following essential provisions into their operations: Freely chosen employment, Freedom of association; Health, hygiene and safety; No underage labour; Decent wages; Limited working hours; Freedom from discrimination; Respect and Dignity; Respect for the environment and Ethical conduct. Our suppliers are audited by independent, third-party auditors, to ensure they meet these standards.

Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights. It takes various forms, such as slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour and human trafficking, all of which have in common the deprivation of a person's liberty by another in order to exploit them for personal or commercial gain. We at Robert Welch have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery, and we are committed to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business dealings and relationships, and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our own business or in any of our supply chains. Our staff undertake training in how to spot signs of modern slavery and our Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy ensures that they know how seriously we take our, and their, responsibilities and duties in this area

Our company recognises the need to protect the natural environment; we are in the midst of a climate and environmental emergency, and we want to play our part in combatting this emergency and in keeping our environment clean and unpolluted. We are constantly appraising and reviewing our product materials, packaging, recycling, transportation, buildings and other business practices while working towards minimising the impact we are making on the environment and maximising sustainability within our business.

We are proud to use the best quality stainless steel which is a fully recyclable material. Stainless steel is also one of the most sustainable choices for cutlery and Robert Welch cutlery really does last a lifetime and can, with careful use, be passed from generation to generation.

We will always follow best practices when disposing of waste and chemical substances. Our business hub and warehouse, The Radford Building, is an energy efficient building with environmentally sustainable solutions including a ground-source heat pump. The whole plot and building is designed to catch rainwater which is fed to a specially planted pond and nature area created to encourage and protect local wildlife.

We are working to ensure that our packaging uses recycled materials wherever possible and that it can, in turn, be easily recycled by our customers. We are aiming for packaging that is 100% recyclable by the end of 2024.