MODERN SLAVERY STATEMENT 2024

Kentucky Fried Chicken (Great Britain) Limited Modern Slavery Statement 2024. 
 

MODERN SLAVERY STATEMENT FOR KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN (GREAT BRITAIN) LIMITED (“KFC GB”) AND ITS SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO KFC ADVERTISING LIMITED, CLOKKEN LIMITED AND CLOKKEN IRELAND LIMITED) (TOGETHER “KFC UK&I”, “WE” OR “US”) FOR FINANCIAL YEAR 2024.

1. Introduction

Here at KFC, we know that modern slavery is one of the most pressing human rights issues of our time, and we are committed to minimising the risk of modern slavery within our business operations and our supply chain. At KFC UK&I, we take a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery, condemning it in all forms, including forced labour, forced marriage, debt bondage, forced commercial sexual exploitation, human trafficking, slavery-like practices, the sale and exploitation of children and the removal of freedoms. That is why we’ve taken several steps across the last year, in line with the pledges made in our 2023 Statement. This statement is issued under section 54 of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 (“MSA”) for our 2024 Financial Year (from 26 December 2023 to 29 December 2024). We published our first Modern Slavery Statement in 2016 following the introduction of the MSA. You can find our previous statements here: 2023 Statement;  2022 Statement; 2021 Statement; 2020 Statement; 2019 Statement; 2018/17 Statement; 2016/17 Statement. We continually review our operations and build our knowledge to mitigate these risks, outlining progress against key performance indicators and intended future actions in our Modern Slavery Statement. This document outlines the steps taken since our last statement in 2022 including achieving 100% SEDEX registration of our direct suppliers. 

KFC UK&I 
KFC was introduced to Britain in 1965 when our first restaurant opened in Preston. There are now over 1,000 KFC restaurants in the UK and Ireland operated by KFC UK&I and our franchise partners. There are approximately 33,000 team members employed by KFC UK&I and its franchise partners in the UK and Ireland, serving up our finger lickin’ good chicken, cooked from scratch for our customers. 

Across the world, there are 32,000+ KFC restaurants operating in over 150 countries. KFC is operated on a part equity, part franchised model. 

KFC is part of Yum! Brands, Inc. (“Yum! Brands”) which is based in Louisville and operates four concepts – KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and The Habit Burger Grill. Yum!’s Global Citizenship & Sustainability Strategy, called its Recipe for Good, is the company’s roadmap for social responsibility, risk management and sustainable stewardship of its people, food and planet. Details of Yum’s commitments on human rights are outlined here.  

Partners 
KFC UK&I works with the following organisations with specialist expertise relating to modern slavery and due diligence: 

• STOP THE TRAFFIK: STOP THE TRAFFIK is an NGO globally recognised for its successful human trafficking prevention programmes, who we have worked with since 2021 to design and deliver our Modern Slavery Strategy. They have supported us with risk mapping and training, and helped us develop our processes and policies to reduce the risk of modern slavery in our supply chain and operations. 

• SEDEX: SEDEX is one of the world’s leading ethical trade membership organisations, and works with businesses to create more responsible and sustainable business practices. SEDEX assesses risk at each supplier site, across four main areas – labour standards, health and safety, business ethics and environment – and uses a combination of self-assessments and third-party assessments and ethical audits to determine both potential and actual exposure. We require that 100% of our direct suppliers are registered with SEDEX. 

2. OUR SUPPLY CHAIN

We seek to assure the quality of our products and the well-being of the people working in our restaurants and supply chain by maintaining a close, stable relationship with our franchisees and our direct suppliers, managing performance and continuously improving quality, service, cost, innovation and risk management. 

Our direct suppliers are our suppliers of goods that are core to our business (namely food, drink and packaging, excluding suppliers of branded products). We rely on our direct suppliers’ good ethical business practices to help us combat the risks of modern slavery. Open communication with our direct suppliers is critical for identifying and resolving any supply chain issues so that together we can respond rapidly and fully to ethical issues. 

We have processes in place for the sourcing and management of our direct suppliers to minimise risk to our brand, the environment and the communities that our restaurants and supply chains impact. Further details of what these processes include can be found in the due diligence section of this statement. 

We carefully select our direct suppliers, developing long-term relationships with them that give us the confidence that a global brand like KFC demands in its supply chain. We are aware that parts of our supply chain are predominately resourced with seasonal workers and that such workers can be at greater risk of exploitation and modern slavery . Whilst we are confident that our sourcing practices minimise this risk, we know that risk can only be eradicated if we are continually vigilant and demanding of our supply chain. 

To this end, in 2024, we conducted a gap analysis of our supply chain due diligence to identify any areas for improvement in our risk assessments of new and existing suppliers. We also updated our Sourcing Code of Conduct. These steps will help us to better manage supply chain risk. 

Our Policies 

One of the ways we address and manage the modern slavery risks in our supply chain is through our Sourcing Code of Practice (the “Sourcing Code”). The "Sourcing Code" sets out defined ethical standards we require direct suppliers to follow as part of their agreement to supply KFC. It requires all direct suppliers to uphold internationally agreed standards of labour, comply with national laws, and work to continually improve workplace and employment standards. We regularly review our policies, which enables us to address any growing risk areas and ensure our policies are robust and mitigate the risk of modern slavery. 

Due Diligence, Risk Assessment and Management 

We recognise the importance of being fully aware of ethical practices and any associated risks in our supply chain. As part of their contracts with KFC, direct suppliers are expected to establish management systems for delivering compliance with KFC policies and to maintain records demonstrating this. Suppliers must take appropriate steps to ensure that: 

• The Sourcing Code is communicated to all relevant employees 

• There is regular engagement with relevant management teams about the need for compliance 

• Appropriate training on the Sourcing Code is provided to key employees 

• Processes and systems are in place to provide means for workers to report or discuss non-compliance confidentially. 

KFC expects any non-compliance with the Sourcing Code to be reported by our direct suppliers so that we can work together to create a time-measured plan to correct the situation as quickly as possible. 

In addition, our direct suppliers are required to register with SEDEX, an ethical data exchange that ensures that ethical standards are monitored and measured. All direct suppliers are required to complete a risk assessment, including a Self-Assessment Questionnaire and undertake independent third-party audits when required. This provides KFC with an overview of the level of risk posed by each supplier and allows us to focus on the areas of greatest risk. In any instances where we feel there is an unacceptable risk, we will contact our direct suppliers in writing, reminding them of our values and ethical standards and reiterating the expectations we have when working with them. We contractually reserve the right to audit our direct suppliers if the need arises.

Labour Standards 

Our labour standards are set out in our Western Europe Ethical Sourcing Policy, which is reviewed and updated where needed by the KFC Western Europe Head of Responsible Sourcing & Regulatory Compliance. If a supplier is found to be in breach of these policies an investigation and appropriate corrective action will be taken. 

We require our direct suppliers to provide employment that is freely chosen, to take steps to prevent forced or bonded labour such as having policies, systems, risk assessment, training, and measurements in place. This is all part of our attempt to ensure no forced labour or slavery exists. We also require that our suppliers allow employees the freedom to associate, organise and join a trade union (or collective bargaining group acting for them) in a lawful and peaceful manner without penalty or interference. Suppliers are required to treat all workers with dignity and respect, and never allow or condone any actions such as abuse or harassment. Suppliers are also required to comply with all applicable wage and hour laws and regulations. 

Furthermore, we support the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code of Conduct, which sets out the labour standards we expect our suppliers to meet. We do this through our work with SEDEX. In conducting SEDEX Member Ethical Trade Audits (SMETA), SEDEX leverages the Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code to assess risk at each supplier site, across four main areas — labour standards, health and safety, business ethics and environment. It uses a combination of inherent industry and country-related risk factors, self-assessments, and third-party audits to determine both potential and actual exposure. 

3. OUR OPERATIONS 

We recognise that team members working for both KFC UK&I head office, KFC UK&I owned restaurants and franchisee-owned restaurants must be treated fairly and with respect. We are committed to compliance with all applicable wages, benefits and working time laws and regulations, and our franchisees are contractually obliged to do the same. We pay fair wages in line with the norms for the industry and market, do not require anyone to work excessive hours and overtime is voluntary. 

We are confident that our internal centralised human resources processes for recruitment minimise the risk of modern slavery or human trafficking taking place within KFC itself. These include Right to Work documentation checks, payroll checks that bank account matches to employee name and training on signs of human trafficking for all employees. 

Our Internal Policies

We know that our employees are critical to mitigating the risk of modern slavery in our operations and supply chain. We have the following policies that support our statement and position on modern slavery: 

• Business Conduct Ethics Policy 

• Employee Code of Conduct 

• Grievance Policy 

• Equal Opportunities Policy 

• Whistleblowing Policy - (which is included in our Equal Opportunities Policy) – our employees have a duty to report any ethical concerns so that we can take appropriate action. We know that this can be personally challenging, so we have provided and publicised a confidential helpline called “Speak Up” to encourage our employees to whistle blow in safety. Employees are given training on Speak Up and there are posters in team areas in restaurants providing information on the service; and 

• Employee Policies Brand Standard – a contractual obligation on all our franchisees to have certain employee policies in place for their own businesses, including modern slavery. 

Training 

KFC has an annual compliance training programme. Our mandatory training series contains several modules, including modern slavery, human trafficking, and has been rolled out to Team Members, Team Leaders, Assistant Restaurant Managers, and Restaurant General Managers across both our KFC UK&I-owned and franchise-owned restaurants. The training has been included in our mandated induction process, ensuring that all new team members complete it when they start work at KFC. We are proud of our training standards, and we continue to assess our compliance training programme to see where we can make further improvements. 

4. ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2024 AND GOALS FOR 2025

To measure our effectiveness and progress on the issues of modern slavery and human trafficking, we have committed to various Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Below, we have reported progress against each of these commitments, as well as outlining our KPIs for next year:

This statement has been approved by the board of directors of Kentucky Fried Chicken (Great Britain) Limited.

Robert Swain
Director, Kentucky Fried Chicken (Great Britain) Limited
23 December 2025