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About Us

Fenn 1875 is a people led business. Our people apply their passion and expertise to provide outstanding solutions to our customers nationwide.

Continually Evolving

Our people are the foundation on which our company strengths of innovation, quality and environmental consciousness have evolved.

We believe business should be good business, and we will support your sustainability journey by offering recommendations tailored to the demands of today’s business world which aim to reduce your environmental impact and your carbon footprint.

We assess our suppliers and their products so you can be confident of supply chain integrity and operate efficiently and responsibly simply through purchasing our products and services.

WHY FENN 1875

At Fenn 1875 we pride ourselves in offering the best business solutions for our clients. We provide the right products with the highest quality service in the most environmental and ethical way.

The days of sourcing your day to day business solutions from multiple providers is a thing of the past. You can now consolidate your supply chain and access everything through one trusted provider, lowering your costs and increasing your own company efficiency.

Our accreditations offer reassurance that you are partnered with a supplier committed to quality, the environment, sustainability and to delivering exceptional service.

Using Fenn 1875 as your business solutions provider makes life easier by saving you time and money.

ACCREDITATIONS & QUALITY ASSURANCE

Our suppliers are chosen not just for their price competitiveness, but also based on their business practices including their ethical business policies, health and safety compliance, and ability to source environmentally responsible products.

We have worked hard to achieve internationally recognised standards ISO 9001 (quality) and ISO 14001 (environment) SA8000 (working conditions) – and we ensure our suppliers adhere to best practice guidelines and operational standards too.

In addition to these Fenn 1875 took the decision in 2014 to stand for assessment for the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Sustainability Index, which is designed to assess three pillars of sustainability across environmental, social and economic. It is seen as providing a consistent sustainability measurement to support purchasing and procurement and, in doing so, create significant time and cost efficiency. Scoring more than 94% across all three, our achievement was judged as ‘aspirational’.

Our ongoing commitment means we represent our industry through forums and advisory groups. Our Head of Environment was invited to attend the PEFC forum in Lockerbie to discuss the improvement and promotion of forest sustainability within the wood, construction, paper and packaging industries and retail sector.

By doing business with Fenn 1875 our customers can be confident of our commitment to quality, performance, transparency, environmental management and an auditable standard which is truly independent.

CUSTOMER CHARTER

Ethical

We guarantee that we will provide a quality service and the right products which are sourced and supplied in an ethically and environmentally sensitive way. We are committed to providing an outstanding single source solution for our customers nationwide, and to offsetting environmental impact through our processes, practices and suppliers. Business should be good business, and we aim to work with businesses who share our values.

Environmentally conscious

Everyone within Fenn 1875 is committed to using resources efficiently to reduce waste, costs and global impact. Environmental impact must be offset, and a carbon reduction strategy is a key part of this and offers tangible benefits to business. We are members of the Carbon Capture Programme, which means our customers have the opportunity to ‘capture’ the CO2 emissions generated from their paper purchase for example, by planting native woodland through the Woodland Trust. In 2021 this resulted in helping to raise £1.37 Million, 354,000 trees planted and 82,000 tonnes of carbon captured. At Fenn 1875 we take this commitment further by recycling all our cardboard and plastic waste, including computer printers for example. In fact, through an apprentice initiative the Fenn 1875 offices are now a Plastic Free Zone.

Transparent

We are committed to offering a service to our customers they can rely on, and to provide them with efficient solutions by taking the time to understand their needs, listen to their feedback and act upon it. Our team will be friendly, helpful and committed to supporting you, and we will make it easy for you to communicate with us. The service we offer will always be competitive, and we are committed to complete transparency so our customers can be confident that everything is ethically priced and sourced. Our products and services help businesses to operate efficiently and responsibly through simply choosing Fenn 1875.

Innovative

With customers at the heart of our organisation, we are constantly evaluating our processes, products and technology to ensure quality and integrity in all that we do. Ongoing and consistent investments are also crucial to ensure Fenn 1875 can offer our customers the very best solutions to meet their needs, as well as ensuring we meet both regulatory and responsible business best practice.

Socially responsible

We believe that the bigger we become, the more we can give back to the communities we work in and the world we live in. Social mobility is key to a better society, and we have launched The Fenn Foundation specifically to support charities and projects which promote this aim, in particular the young and the homeless. All our employees are given 1 day per year to carry out community work, and we will donate time and money to support these causes to make a sustained and significant positive impact.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR)

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is at the heart of everything we do, which means our business is committed to sustainable development by delivering economic, social and environmental benefits for everyone we do business with.

Fenn 1875 has a thriving CSR policy which is embraced by all our employees, and as a result provides us with a sustainable and ethical business. We take a holistic view of CSR so it incorporates important issues including working conditions, employee care, health and safety, environmental effects and economic development.

As independent evidence of this Fenn 1875 has been awarded excellent scores by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply. We have achieved the aspirational SA8000 international accreditation, maintained ISO 14001 accreditation since 2004, and we are a certified Women’s Business Enterprise.

We aim to maintain our Corporate CSR Accreditations, expand our employee and community socially-impacting policies and procedures, and to measure and report on these through regular independent assessment and verification. We will ensure we publish our results via our website and communicate these in meetings.

Sponsorship & Donations

We have supported more than 38 different local charities and customer causes to date, resulting in donations of more than £50,000.

Charity Volunteering Scheme & Community Support

We play an active part within our local communities. Every member of staff is given one day a year to support the community. See our support for charities section below – it is a long list!

Partnerships

Fenn 1875 is an active member of the Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce and is committed to using and promoting local supply chains. This helps to reduce customer delivery costs and carbon footprint, which we also achieve through initiatives including our tree planting scheme, for example, as outlined in our Customer Charter.

Recruitment & Training

We regularly use local temporary staff and we have run and supported the Aspire Program for many years which supports disadvantaged young people in our community. This support can include learning opportunities, provisions such as clothing and educational materials, and through in-house opportunities at Fenn 1875. Currently 20 young people have gone through our scheme. In addition, we sponsor young people in Fenn 1875 Apprenticeships on an ongoing basis.

Employee Welfare

Fenn 1875 is a registered foster friendly firm, we support team members wishing to undertake part-time education and contribute to their tuition fees, as well as encourage in-house staff mentoring and training initiatives.

We support flexible working patterns and members of staff with lifelong disabilities in a way which supports them in returning and continuing to be able to work at Fenn 1875. We reward long term staff service with increased holiday entitlement, and promote employee health through projects such as our employee cycle to work scheme.

Any member of our team interested in participating in The Army Reserve is supported, and as a company we take part in The Armed Forces Covenant and Armed Forces Day.

ENVIRONMENTAL STANDARDS, PRODUCTS & RECYCLING

At Fenn 1875 our commitment to protecting the environment is a core value. We believe that business profitability and environmental responsibility go hand in hand. Wherever we do business, we operate with respect and sensitivity to the environment.

As a result, we offer provision for ‘green’ organically grown alternatives, we partner with our customers to ensure our supplies dovetail into their environmental policy, and as a licenced waste carrier we offer a secure recycling service on all our garments for example – nothing goes to landfill.

All our employees are encouraged to take individual steps to protect and restore the environment, and we empower them to ensure our company activities are consistent with our environmental practices. Any environmental impact is negated through support for organisations including WaterAid and carbon capture projects through the Woodland Trust, including tree planting and supply of Woodland Trust office paper. These are coupled with extensive recycling of all our cardboard, plastics, printer consumables, workwear and shredding recycling.

In 2021 our commitment to carbon capture resulted in 82,000 tonnes of Co2 being captured – the equivalent weight of 18,222 female African elephants!

We make being green simpler for your business by ensuring we work in the most sustainable way possible. Our ISO14001 accreditation requires that we adhere to an extensive set of environmental standards and formalises our commitment to protecting the environment in everything we do. The more we grow, the more we can give back to our planet.

The ISO14001 standard means we will supply and deliver in the most effective way for you, balancing cost and environmental impact so you can be confident you are operating responsibly.

As a company we also work to promote environmental best practice within our business community, which has included hosting environmental seminars and exhibitions including an event with world renowned environmentalist Dr David Bellamy.

Children's Charities
Schools & Nurseries

Customer Charities

SUPPORT FOR CHARITIES & RE-USE SCHEME

We support local causes and are always enthusiastic fundraisers for national events including Children In Need, Comic Relief, Sport Relief and Macmillan Cancer Support.

We have supported over 38 charities and schools and have donated more than £50,000 to the following:

  • Midlands Air Ambulance
  • Teenage Cancer Trust
  • Newcastle Town FC Under 11s
  • PDSA
  • Salisbury United U14s – kit donation
  • Newcastle Town FC
  • Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham
  • Alice Charity
  • Realise Foundation
  • MND Association
  • East Midlands Grand Prix charity event
  • Cotton Traders charity dinner
  • Willmott Dixon homeless shelter
  • Hoodies for the Homeless
  • Saltbox Christian Centre
  • British Heart Foundation
  • Royal British Legion ‘Battle back’ Campaign
  • Armed Forces Covenant: Armed Forces Day
  • BUDS (Better Understanding of Dementia for Sandwell)
  • Comic Relief
  • Douglas Macmillan
  • Marie Curie
  • County Air Ambulance – Award of Merit
  • Staffordshire Wildlife Trust

Fenn 1875 – our work with children’s charities:

  • Potteries Junior Football League
  • Children In Need
  • Brittle Bone Society (supporting Maleah Pegg – Sheffield)
  • Circus Starr – Partner with the Donna Louise Trust
  • Donna Louise Trust
  • North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary – Neonatal Baby Unit
  • Rubygirl – Stoke-on-Trent youth charity

Fenn 1875 – our work with schools & nurseries:

  • Ball Green Primary School
  • Bobbles Nursery
  • Glebe Primary School
  • Kemball Special School
  • Reginald Mitchell Primary School
  • Sandyford Hill Primary School
  • Southlands Nursery
  • Sutherland Primary Academy

Fenn 1875 – our work with our customer charities:

  • Mud Run for the NSPCC
  • PDSA (Peoples Dispensary for Sick Animals)
  • Children in Need
  • Beach party for disadvantaged children
  • Race for Life Cancer Research UK
  • Neuroblastoma children’s charity
  • Potters Half Marathon for Caudwell Children
  • Tommy’s baby charity
  • Tree landscaping project
  • 3 Peaks Challenge
  • Charity Bike Ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats
  • Woodland incentive project
  • The Ellis Harriet Clark Foundation