Our policies

Environment Policy

Updated February 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, includingtaking 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 and logistics operations, and implementing a responsible energy purchasing policy.
• Working with its suppliers and any third-party operations across the supply chain to support activities to reduce the 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 2023

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 February 2024

At British Sugar we’re committed to supporting the safety, health and wellbeing of everyone working across our whole UK supply chain. We do this by providing safe and healthy workplaces and working conditions, to prevent injury and ill health. We will also minimise any impact caused by our activities or processes to the safety and health of our contractors while working on any of our facilities, and our neighbours who may be affected by our operations.

We will comply with all legal and regulatory requirements to continually improve 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 February 2024

British Sugar’s Energy Policy is to minimise the environmental impact and find opportunities to generate green energy for use and electricity export across our operations. As an ABF Sugar company we are committed to setting a near-term science-based emission reduction target in consultation with the Science Based Target initiative, and are certified to the ISO 50001 standard. We understand the impact of climate change and that is why we are playing our part by:

• Reducing our energy usage and in turn our greenhouse gas emissions by 40kt CO2e per year, with over 10 Performance Improvement projects underway in 2022/23
• Reducing our greenhouse gas emissions in absolute terms, and per tonne of raw material processed and product manufactured
• Execute plan to cease burning coal for animal feed drying in the near-term, followed by the use of coal for energy generation at Cantley site
• Committing to purchase only green imported renewable electricity from October 2022
• Enhancing our energy performance through the continual improvement of the energy management system and a process of measuring and regularly reviewing energy performance against improvement targets
• Taking energy performance into account in the design, procurement, and implementation of all capital investments, plant modifications, and operational changes
• Fulfilling our compliance obligations for all appropriate legislation and other requirements relating to the activities of the Company
• Supporting ABF Sugar in the process of setting the science-based emission reduction target in consultation with the Science Based Target initiative

This policy statement is communicated to all 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.

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:

• by paying 95% of invoices within the agreed payment terms and without attempting to change terms retrospectively
• by paying 95% of all invoices within 60 days, and 95% of invoices from businesses with fewer than 50 employees within 30 days
• by acknowledging suppliers’ right to use late payment legislation to invoice for late payment interest and charges when appropriate

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'