Frequently Asked Questions

Below are some frequently asked questions relating to vendor assurance. If your query is not answered by these, please contact us (Details below and elsewhere in this section - see `Contact Info / Who's Who' in the left-hand navigation menu).

Q: What do I do if I have a foreign body complaint?

A: Go to the Compass Group HSE Department Website homepage and click on "AIR3 - Incident Reporting" icon and follow the step-by-step instruction online to report the foreign body complaint or other incidents - this is the "Accident Incident Reporting" (AIR) system. All Compass Group units are required to report all incidents via the AIR system. Types of incident reported to AIR system are: accidents, near misses, foreign body complaints and alleged food poisoning.

Q: I have reported the foreign body complaint via the AIR system. What shall I do with the foreign body?

A:  Please DO NOT send the foreign body in the post until you are advised by the Vendor Assurance team of where to post it.  Instead, please store the foreign body in the freezer labelled with the AIR reference and mark 'NOT FOR CONSUMPTION'.

Q: What do I do if my Local Authority Enforcement Officer has visited my unit?

A: Please contact your Business Sector HSE Manager.

Q: What do I do if I have a quality complaint? 

A: Please report quality complaints, including delivery issues, directly to the distributor i.e. Brakes. They log complaints and escalate any trends to the Foodbuy Customer Experience team (CET). If you are not satisfied with the response from the distributor then contact the CET directly to log a ticket on Helpdesk. 

Q: I work in a unit in Republic of Ireland, how do I deal with complaints?

A: Republic of Ireland should deal with complaints in the same way as the UK does.

Q: What do I do if I want to use a supplier/ product that is not on the AVL/ APL?

A: Check the Compass AVL first – to see if the supplier you need is on there, if the supplier you want to use is already on the Compass Group AVL you simply need to contact your sector account manager or the Foodbuy Customer Experience team (CET) who will request the supplier to be added to your unit AVL.

If the product or supplier is not on the Compass AVL then complete a helpdesk ticket on Foodbuy online. 

Q: How long will it take to get a new supplier approved?

A: Generally it takes 10 working days from the day of request. However the approval process is likely to take longer if there are issues with the supplier. In such cases Vendor Assurance team will contact the sector commercial manager or CET to advise them of the delay.

Q: How do I find out if a food supplier I am using is approved?

A: Log a ticket on 'Helpdesk' with the supplier information.  

Q: How do I request Halal certificates, Organic certificates or supplier product specifications for the products that I take in my unit?

A: To request supplier product specifications, halal or organic or other certifications - for each product please e-mail the following information to rebecca.beasley@compass-group.co.uk

Product description
Product VMC code
Supplier name
Pack size
Storage condition (ambient/ chilled/ frozen) 

Please ensure correct product details are provided and please allow a minimum of 5 working days for your request to be actioned. Requests for 20 or more products will take considerably longer.

Please note that some Halal certificates are specific to the product batch therefore the certificates may appear to have expired even though they are actually still valid.

Halal Food Authority (HFA) Website:
www.halalfoodauthority.co.uk

Soil association website:
www.soilassociation.org   

Q: Can you explain the methodology for ensuring that the supply chain adheres to the requirements contained within 2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and regulation 4 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992) (or EU member state equivalent)?  

A: For food suppliers, on receipt of a request for a new supplier, the supplier is sent a supplier questionnaire which includes good manufacturing practice, environmental and corporate responsibility sections.  The questionnaire is assessed by Vendor Assurance and suppliers are categorised into high, medium or low risk.  All suppliers are then audited according to our business rules by our third party auditing company NSF unless they are low risk with an alternative acceptable third party audit certificate.  Both the supplier questionnaire and audits check the health and safety arrangements of the company.

 For our preferred non-food contractors we insist that they are registered with SAFEcontractor (www.safecontractor.com) or an alternative SSIP scheme which checks their health and safety arrangements.

Q: Are Compass Group UK & Ireland SAFEcontractor accredited?

A: Yes. The accreditation number is IU4468.

Q: How do I find out if a Compass Group UK & Ireland supplier is SAFEcontractor accredited?

A: You can check which suppliers and contractors are SAFEcontractor accredited by contacting the vendor assurance non-food team at nonfood@compass-group.co.uk.

Q: What is the difference between a supplier and a contractor?

A: Contractors conduct work on site, suppliers supply to a site but do not work at the site.

Q: Do all non-food suppliers and contractors have to be SAFEcontractor accredited?

A: All Contractors who come onto Compass managed sites should be SSIP accredited www.SSIP.org.uk.  Of the SSIP scheme approvers our preference is SAFEcontractor however CHAS and other bodies are also acceptable as long as an audit of the systems and processes of the contractor is included within the accreditation process. 

Q: How much does it cost to become SAFEcontractor accredited.

A: Contact SAFEcontractor directly via their website Contractor Accreditation Plans / SafeContractor

Q: I have a supplier who says that they cannot supply Compass because they do not have £10 million Public Liability insurance. Why do we insist on them having this insurance in place?

A: Compass Group requires all suppliers to hold a minimum of £10 million public liability insurance cover to mirror our own levels of PLI.  It is a strict condition of Compass's insurance policies to take all necessary steps to mitigate any potential losses therefore protecting the position of our insurers. In the event that a claim was in excess of our suppliers’ insurance levels our insurers will not pick up the difference and therefore we need adequate comfort that proper insurance is in place.