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Virgin Wines - How We Work

At Virgin Wines we are proud of our brand and proud to be part of the wider Virgin family. We know that the way we do business is as important as the products we sell. This document lays out our code of conduct in the key areas of

  • Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Environment
  • Ethics
  • Slavery and Human Trafficking
  • Drinking Responsibly

This code of conduct applies to Virgin Wines UK and all of our 170 staff.

This document has been approved by our Board of Directors on 17th February 2014. This Statement will be reviewed on an annual basis and will be updated if required. It is our commitment to all of our stakeholders to conduct our business in the right way.

Corporate Social Responsibility

At Virgin Wines we believe that only doing enough is not enough. Our business values and operations should exceed the expectations of our customers, employees, investors, suppliers, the community and the environment. We want to work in partnership with our stakeholders wherever possible to be the absolute best that we can be. We recognise that our social, economic and environmental responsibilities to these stakeholders are integral to our business. We aim to demonstrate these responsibilities through our actions and within our corporate policies.

  • We take seriously all feedback that we receive from our stakeholders and, where possible, maintain open dialogue to ensure that we fulfil the requirements outlined within this policy.
  • We shall be open and honest in communicating our strategies, targets, performance and governance to our stakeholders in our continual commitment to sustainable development.
  • The responsibility for our performance on this policy rests with all employees throughout the company.

Our commitment is to ensure a high level of business performance whilst upholding the values of honesty, partnership and fairness in our relationships with all our stakeholders.

Our Partners
  • Our contracts will clearly set out the agreed terms, conditions and the basis of our relationship and will operate in a way that safeguards against unfair business practices.
  • We shall encourage suppliers and contractors to adopt responsible business policies and practices.
  • We are a responsible employer and we do not and will not knowingly support or deal with any business involved in slavery and human trafficking.
Our Communities
  • We shall encourage dialogue with local communities for mutual benefit.
  • We shall work with local charities, schools, colleges and universities to assist young people in choosing their future careers, being an advocate for our industry and the wider Virgin brand.
  • We shall support and encourage our employees to help local community organisations and activities in our region, particularly our employee chosen charities.
Our Customers
  • We will register and resolve customer complaints in accordance with our standards of service.
  • We will protect our customers by encouraging responsible drinking and ensuring that our employees are appropriately trained to spot the signs of alcohol dependency and what to do in these cases.
  • Our 100% customer satisfaction guarantee and no quibbles/no fault refund policy will always be a central tenet of our customer proposition.
Our Employees
  • We shall operate an equal opportunities policy for all present and potential future employee.
  • We will offer our employees clear and fair terms of employment and provide resources to enable their continual development.
  • We shall maintain a clear and fair employee remuneration policy and shall maintain forums for employee consultation and business involvement.
  • We shall provide safeguards to ensure that all employees of whatever nationality, colour, race or religious belief are treated with respect and without sexual, physical or mental harassment.
  • We shall provide, and strive to maintain, a clean, healthy and safe working environment in line with our Health and Safety policy and safe systems of work.
  • We have policies and procedures in place to ensure that no one employed by us is working in the UK against their will.
The Environment

We shall develop Environmental policies and objectives as part of the business planning cycle.

Our Code of Ethics

We conduct all of our activities professionally and honourably with integrity and honesty, and expect our clients and suppliers to do the same. Our policies, procedures and training take proper account of ethical considerations, together with the protection and enhancement of the moral position of our clients and suppliers.

Our actions and advice will always, as a minimum, conform to relevant law. We believe it is our responsibility to avoid causing any adverse effect on the human rights of people in our organisation, the organisations we deal with, the local and wider environments, and the well-being of society at large.

Confidentiality

We are committed to maintaining the highest degree of integrity in all our dealings with potential, current and past clients, both in terms of normal commercial confidentiality, and the protection of all personal information. We extend the same standards to all our customers, suppliers and associates.

Contracts

Our contract will usually be in the form of a detailed proposal, including activities, costs, timescales and deliverables. We will not restrict the freedom of trade for any of our suppliers or partners. We always try to meet our contractual requirements, and settle accounts within agreed timeframes.

Pricing

Our prices are always competitive for what we provide, which is high quality, bespoke, boutique wine backed up by world-class customer service. We offer customers a range of buying options to make it easy for them to buy in a way that suits them. We will offer a discretionary level of pricing flexibility for our most loyal customers.

Payment

As a large percentage of our customers have a regular payment plan in place with us, we offer complete flexibility in the way this is managed. Customers can take payment holidays, change payment amounts/schemes, change payment dates and cancel as they wish. Payments taken in error will always be refunded as soon as we become aware of them and if we have caused a customer any financial hardship by our actions we will reimburse them. Customer funds are held in a ring-fenced trust account separate from business funds and available for refund at anytime.

Quality assurance

We maintain the quality of what we do through constant ongoing review with our winemakers and our customers. The feedback on our website is provided by our customers and the content is never influenced by financial incentives or corporate pressure. We genuinely care about the views of our customers and the integrity of our brand.

Professional conduct

We take great care to be completely honest, upfront and objective and do not attempt to hide behind small print or jargon.

Equality and discrimination

We are never influenced in our decisions, actions or recommendations by issues of gender, race, creed, colour, age or personal disability.

Anti Bribery and Whistleblowing Process

We will maintain and update our Anti Bribery policy and ensure protections are in place to encourage and support whistleblowing. This policy is reviewed annually by the board of directors.

Our Commitment to the Environment

With import and delivery playing key parts of our business we know that our activities have an impact on the environment. Our commitment is to operate in compliance with all relevant environmental legislation and to use pollution prevention and environmental best practices in all we do. Environmental concerns and impacts are important in all of our decision making and activities.

  • We encourage our employees to work in an environmentally responsible manner.
  • We use the environmental policies of potential suppliers in selecting who we will work with in the production and distribution of our products.
  • We reduce waste through re-use and recycling and by purchasing recycled, recyclable or re-furbished products and materials where these alternatives are available, economical and suitable.
  • We promote efficient use of materials and resources including water, electricity, raw materials and other resources, particularly those that are non-renewable.
  • We avoid unnecessary use of hazardous materials and products, seek substitutions when feasible, and take all reasonable steps to protect human health and the environment when such materials must be used, stored and disposed of.
  • We purchase and use environmentally responsible products accordingly.
  • We make best use of available technology to minimise national and international travel by staff members.
  • We strive to continually improve our environmental performance and minimise the social impact and damage of activities by continually reviewing our environmental policy in light of our current and planned future activities.

Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement 2019/20

Last updated: 29.03.19

This statement is made pursuant to s.54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and sets out the steps that Virgin Wine Online Limited (Virgin Wines) has taken and is continuing to take to ensure that modern slavery or human trafficking is not taking place within our business or supply chain.

Modern slavery encompasses slavery, servitude, human trafficking and forced labour. Virgin Wines has a zero tolerance approach to any form of modern slavery and we are committed to acting ethically and with integrity and transparency in all business dealings and to put in place effective systems and controls to safeguard against any form of modern slavery taking place within the business or supply chain.

Our Business

We are an Online Wine Merchant operating exclusively within the UK. We employ 160 staff all located at our two premises in the UK. Seasonal office and warehouse staff are employed directly by us or from a small number of established reputable recruitment agencies.

We source wine internationally either directly from the vineyard or via third party agents representing winemakers.

Other business services and consumables are procured almost exclusively from UK based companies.

Our Policies

The following internal policies exist to ensure we are conducting business in an ethical and transparent manner.

Recruitment Policy

We conduct robust checks on any new employee including their eligibility to work in the UK to safeguard against human trafficking or individuals being forced to work against their will. Suppliers of temporary labour will be vetted to ensure they are applying the same checks and controls before being approved.

Training Policy

To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our business, we provide appropriate training to our staff. This is focused on but not limited to staff involved in recruitment, wine buyers and the procurement team.

Staff Engagement

All staff have an obligation to familiarise themselves with our Slavery and Human Trafficking statement. This forms part of the induction process for all new staff and is included in the Employee handbook which forms part of their contract of employment.

Whistleblowing Policy

We operate a whistleblowing policy so that all employees know they can raise concerns about any practices within the business or the supply chain, without any fear of reprisals.

Supplier Due Diligence for Slavery and Human Trafficking

As part of our due diligence processes to identify and mitigate risk:

  • Identify and assess potential risk areas in our supply chains.
  • Where practical, mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our supply chains.
  • Monitor potential risk areas in our supply chains.
  • Ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our business by providing training to all relevant staff.

Virgin Wines does not and will not knowingly support or deal with any business involved in slavery and human trafficking. The Company completes due diligence on its suppliers, where practicable, to satisfy itself that it is trading with a reputable organisation.

We expect all of our partners in our supply chain to be opposed to slavery and human trafficking. As a minimum, we expect each entity in its supply chain to adopt 'one-up' due diligence on the next link in the chain for those organisations governed by the Act as it is not practical for us to have a direct relationship with all links in the supply chain.

Reporting

There have been no reports from staff, the public, suppliers or law enforcement agencies to indicate that modern slavery practices have been identified in the business or supply chain.

This statement was approved by the Board of Directors on 27th March 2019.

Jay Wright Chief Executive Officer 27th March 2019.

Our commitment to drinking responsibly

We believe that our industry can and should work together to promote the responsible enjoyment of alcohol. We have a collective responsibility to positively change the nation's relationship with alcohol.

We are a member of both the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) and the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET), the educating body for the wine and spirits trade.

Every year, we sponsor the large majority of new staff through the WSET Advanced Certificate. The examination for this always covers course content on the principles of alcohol and social responsibility.

  • We do not sell alcohol to anyone that we believe to be intoxicated.
  • We do not sell alcohol to anyone with a medical or a dependency issue that we have either been informed of or suspect through their buying patterns.
  • We do not sell alcohol to customers whom we suspect of passing alcohol to under 18s.
  • We do not offer any incentives to our customers to drink irresponsibly.
  • We support the Portman Groups' Code of Practice regarding the responsible naming, packaging and promotion of alcoholic drinks.
  • Our employees have easy access to information about alcohol by volume (ABV) and alcohol units, for the benefit of customers as well as themselves.
  • The ABV of every alcoholic product we sell can be found clearly on our website.
  • Water is always available, free of charge, at our tastings. We encourage customers to use spittoons at these events and our employees will only ever pour tasting measures.
  • We provide education to school leavers through our 'Strive2Thrive' initiative around drinking responsibly.
Government Guidelines

The Government advises that people should not regularly drink more than their daily unit guidelines: New guidelines issued in January 2016 recommend restricting weekly units to 14. Expectant mothers should refrain from alcohol during pregnancy.

Men: 14 units

Women: 14 units

This is a weekly amount, not an average; 14 units once a week is not considered healthy or responsible.

The size and strength of your drink will determine the number of units it contains. It's not quite as simple as one drink, one unit - a glass of wine can range between just over one unit and more than three units depending on the size of the glass and type of wine.

Remember, when you're drinking at home, you tend to pour measures that are larger than you get in your local.

The law on alcohol covers such areas as underage drinking, drink driving and drinking in public places. The full facts can be found on the DrinkAware website.

Last updated: 04.12.20

The previous version of this document is available here