Supplier Ethical Sourcing Auditing

Service summary

An evaluation of supplier practices against an agreed ethical sourcing code and relevant requirements. The audit examines employment practices, business conduct and the management arrangements supporting responsible commercial relationships.

Findings help buyers understand supplier conditions and follow up significant concerns. Evidence collection is conducted with appropriate confidentiality and worker protection; a generic ethical sourcing audit is not represented as a proprietary scheme audit.

Key objectives

• Assess agreed ethical sourcing requirements
• Examine recruitment and working conditions
• Evaluate grievance and response controls
• Support responsible supplier oversight

Methodology

The assessment triangulates records, observations and appropriately confidential interviews, with safeguards against retaliation and misleading disclosure of individual accounts.

• Agree ethical criteria, supplier scope and worker-protection arrangements.
• Review workforce information, sourcing policies and previous concerns.
• Select employment records and interview groups using risk-based sampling.
• Observe relevant workplaces and assess implemented welfare controls.
• Conduct confidential interviews and reconcile accounts with available records.
• Evaluate findings, immediate concerns and management response evidence.
• Report substantiated issues while protecting confidential individual information.

Key outcomes

References: [G04] · [G07]

• Ethical sourcing assessment
• Evidence of labour practice gaps
• Confidentiality-controlled findings
• Basis for buyer follow-up