Our policies

Our policies

British Sugar's policy documents




Environment Policy

Updated September 2024

British Sugar believes that protection of the environment is everyone’s responsibility and is committed to:

• Fulfilling its compliance obligations for all appropriate environmental legislation and other regulatory and biodiversity requirements relating to the activities of the company.

• Protecting the environment through the prevention of pollution to air, land and waterways, including taking action to mitigate risks caused by climate change.

• Enhancing its environmental performance through the continual improvement of the Environment Management System and a process of monitoring, measuring and reviewing its environmental impacts.

• Minimising the environmental impact of our energy use across our production operations & logistics and implementing a responsible energy purchasing policy.

• Working with our suppliers and any third-party operations, across the supply chain, to support activities to reduce our environmental impact and meet social responsibility obligations.

• Consuming resources responsibly, through our alignment to ABF Sugar's commitment to science-based targets under SBTi to support our continued decarbonisation plans.

This policy statement is communicated to all of British Sugar’s employees and contractors.

Download our 'Environment Policy'

Product Safety & Quality Policy 

Updated October 2024

British Sugar is committed to producing safe, good quality and legally compliant food and feed, meeting customer requirements: first time; every time.

We will promote an environment of continuous improvement and a positive food safety culture in which everyone takes personal responsibility, and which is embedded in everything that we do from field to consumer.

British Sugar wants our customers to choose us as a supplier for reasons other than price. We aim to do this by understanding the requirements for their for their products to be successful.

Our Management Systems for Product Safety & Quality are shaped by ISO, FEMAS, Retailer and GFSI recognised standards and our policies are communicated across the business.

Download our 'Product Safety & Quality Policy'

Safety & Health Policy

Updated September 2024

At British Sugar we’re committed to supporting the safety, health and wellbeing of everyone working across our entire UK supply chain.

We do this by providing safe and healthy workplaces and working conditions, to prevent injury and ill health. We work to minimise any impact caused by our activities or processes to the safety and health of our contractors working at any of our facilities, and our neighbours who may be affected by our operations.​

We comply with all legal and regulatory requirements, continually looking to enhance our occupational safety and health management system. We will provide a secure work environment through eliminating hazards and ensuring that all occupational safety and health risks are assessed and effectively managed, using proportionate risk-based principles, through a prioritised approach within the framework of our Management System.​

Everyone working on behalf of the company has a responsibility for the safety and health of themselves and others who might be affected by their actions. We will always consult with our people and our trade unions to encourage participation across our supply chain, with overall accountability for safety and health recognised as a prime responsibility for all those who manage and supervise people.​

This policy statement is communicated to all British Sugar’s employees and contractors.

Download our 'Safety & Health Policy'

Energy Policy

Updated September 2024

British Sugar’s Energy Policy is designed to minimise our environmental impact and find opportunities to generate green energy for our own operational use and to export where possible. As an ABF Sugar company we are committed to a near-term emission reduction target in consultation with the Science Based Target initiative and we are certified to the ISO 50001 standard.

We understand the impact of climate change and are playing our part by:

• Reducing our energy usage through performance improvement projects.

• Reducing our greenhouse gas emissions in absolute terms, and per tonne of raw material processed and product manufactured.

• Ceasing burning coal for energy and animal feed drying.

• Using only green imported renewable electricity.

• Enhancing our energy performance through the continual improvement of the energy management system. We have in place a process of measuring and regularly reviewing energy performance against improvement targets.

• Always taking energy performance into account in the design, procurement and implementation of all capital investments, plant modifications, and operational changes.

• Fulfilling our compliance obligations in line with all appropriate legislation and other requirements relating to the activities of the Company.

• Meeting our commitments to ABF Sugar to play our part in achieving its science-based emission reduction target.

This policy statement is communicated to all of British Sugar’s employees and contractors whose activities impact on energy.

Download our 'Energy Policy'

Modern Slavery

Updated May 2023

British Sugar subscribes to ABF Sugar’s Modern Slavery Statement, which aligns with the principles of the Associated British Foods plc (ABF) Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement but puts the challenge and risks into a sugar context.

The statement aims to explain what are perceived to be the biggest potential modern slavery risks in ABF Sugar’s business footprint, and the strategy intended to be used to mitigate against those potential risks.

Read more about the policy here.

Speak Up Policy

Updated December 2024

The ABF Speak Up Policy provides guidelines for individuals who feel they need to raise certain issues in confidence and is designed to protect those raising a genuine concern from any detriment, in line with the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998 or other jurisdictional legislation.

The Policy, which refers to raising matters of public interest, to stop malpractice or wrongdoing, is set out in the policy below.

British Sugar are committed to supporting individuals to Speak Up and protecting them from repercussions in line with the ABF Speak Up Policy. 

Download our Speak Up Policy here.

Payment Policy

Updated January 2023

Paying suppliers or partners promptly and within the agreed payment terms is not only an ethical responsibility but economically beneficial for all parties and the wider economy. British Sugar is a signatory to the Prompt Payment Code (PPC), a voluntary code of practice for businesses, administered by the Office of the Small Business Commissioner (OSBC) on behalf of BEIS. As a signatory to the PPC, British Sugar has undertaken to:

1.  Pay suppliers on time:

2.  Give clear guidance to suppliers on terms, dispute resolution and prompt notification of late payment

3.  Support good practice throughout our supply chain by encouraging adoption of the Code

Download our 'Payment Policy'

Procurement Responsible Sourcing Policy

Updated April 2024

For British Sugar, respecting Environmental and Human Rights includes all our operations, supply chains and communities.

As a business of Associated British Foods plc (ABF), we are committed to enact the United Nations (UN) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and in doing so, we are guided in particular by the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. 

Building upon our ongoing work on Modern Slavery and Grievance Remediation Mechanisms, this policy further outlines how we engage supply chain due diligence and manage environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks in our British Sugar operations and amongst our suppliers.

Download our 'Procurement Responsible Sourcing Policy'

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