Modern Slavery Statement

Mears Family Funerals Ltd (Company Number: 10537574) does not meet the criteria in Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 but it is voluntarily publishing a modern slavery and human trafficking statement.

Our Business

Mears Family Funerals Ltd independent, family-owned and operated funeral directors operating wholly in the United Kingdom.

Our Supply Chains

In order to provide personalised and relevant products and services to our clients, we work with a number of different suppliers. We consider some of our key suppliers to be those providing the following products and services:

• Coffins, Caskets and related products
• Floral tributes
• Memorial masonry
• Vehicles
• Chemicals
• Uniforms

We have identified that memorial masonry and uniform provision may give rise to a higher risk of modern slavery and human trafficking in the supply chain. The following reasons explain the focus on these particular three areas:

Uniform: These products are highlighted  in the Global Slavery Index as higher risk in the UK marketplace and are likely to involve a complex supply chain

Memorial masonry: The extraction process of the stone and location of the quarries could pose a higher risk in the supply chain of modern slavery

Policies

To support our commitment to preventing modern slavery and human trafficking from occurring within our business and supply chain, we have in place the following policies:

• Anti-slavery and human trafficking policy
• Whistleblowing policy

We ensure that relevant suppliers are aware of these policies, and we continue to ensure that they adhere to the same high standards we expect of ourselves.

Supply Chain Due Diligence

Where we have identified that a particular area of our supply chain poses a higher risk of modern slavery and human trafficking, we have in place the following additional measures:

• Requesting the supplier’s own policies and procedures in relation to modern slavery
• Encouraging suppliers to develop a more detailed understanding of the next level of the supply chain, in order to further understand and manage risk
• Discussing existing or planned accreditation regimes (e.g. Sedex)
• Reviewing the support required in order to map the supply chain

In broader terms, we also try to adopt the following protocols within our business:

• Limiting the number of suppliers of any particular service (particularly those of higher risk) in order to allow us to better concentrate on minimising risk in these areas, whilst at the same time balancing this with the risk of reliance on any one supplier
• Building trusted and long-standing relationships with our key suppliers
• Concentrating our immediate supply chain within UK geography, where possible and appropriate
• Training senior managers in relation to modern slavery 
• Reviewing changes to our suppliers’ supply chain as part of quarterly supplier performance and strategy meetings
• Following best practice in our own recruitment processes, including reference checking and screening protocols, along with other robust identity checking methods

Effectiveness and Performance Indicators

We measure the success and continual improvement of our efforts in combatting modern slavery and human trafficking by a number of key performance indicators:

• Monitoring the number of suppliers we have for each product and service we offer, in order to continually understand our supply chain risks
• Monitoring the number of formal accreditations obtained by our suppliers which are of relevance to combatting modern slavery
• Reporting suspected instances of modern slavery (including through our whistleblowing and speak up processes)
• Benchmarking with industry experts and trade associations

Future focus

• Ongoing dialogue with our suppliers in order to better map the supply chain
• Reviewing general training and awareness for all staff about the risks of modern slavery
• Continued monitoring of any relevant supplier-related milestones and timescales associated with modern slavery risk minimisation

This statement is Mears Family Funerals Ltd’s modern slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 30th April 2023.

This statement was approved by Steven Mears DipFD on 30th April 2023.