Asda response to calls to meet costs of Employer Pays Principle across supply chains
... We conduct regular risk assessment to identify the salient labour and human rights risks in our supply chains which require attention from Asda, our suppliers, and colleagues, to address root cause. Identified risks include migrant workers entering the UK via the Seasonal Workers’ Scheme who may have been charged excessive recruitment fees, have limited understanding of their rights, and enter employment with unmatched expectations of their working hours, pay, and living and working conditions...
We expect suppliers to operate responsibly, abide to applicable labour and employment law and adhere to our Standards for Suppliers... Our standards include provision for responsible recruitment and request suppliers adhere to the Employer Pays Principle (EPP)...
In the last 12 months we have received reports of potential cases of illicit and legal recruitment fees charged to workers in our supply chains, some of which are associated with the UK Seasonal Workers’ Scheme. We are working in partnership with the impacted suppliers and other supply chain actors to investigate and remediate reported cases. We are unable to share specific details until all associated activity has concluded...
We are proud to be working with DEFRA on the jointly funded EPP feasibility study, as part of the Taskforce, which will Asda Stores Limited 22.05.2024 Data classification: Asda Internal investigate the use of EPP for the UK Seasonal Worker Scheme. We are members of the Food Network for Ethical Trade (FNET) and participate in various workstreams including their Responsible Recruitment Working group focused on improving understanding and addressing challenges to implementation of EPP. We welcome the changes from Sedex to the SMETA audit methodology, in particular the introduction of ‘Collaborative Action Required’ issue titles that recognise systemic issues cannot be addressed by suppliers alone and supports continuous improvement for the benefit of workers. However, we support calls for further clarification from Sedex on how the changes will be implemented and impress upon Sedex to issue clear and transparent timelines and guidance to enable a smooth roll out of SMETA 7.0...
