Our Ethos
Our Mission Statement
“8th Day Co-operative exists to encourage the optimum health of its customers and staff by providing quality vegetarian food and advice, whilst maintaining a caring, sustainable, democratic and ethical business environment for its workers.”
Our Buying Policy
To source goods at the best possible quality and price within acceptable ethical parameters.
- Everything is vegetarian and GM free
- Eggs for sale must be organic and free range
- Body care products must not be tested on animals or contain ingredients which have been tested on animals, this includes third party testing done on behalf of brands for sale in other countries.
- Food items must be free of unacceptable additives e.g. artificial sweeteners, colours and preservatives
- Products should be sourced as locally as practicable to limit food miles. Fruit and vegetables must originate from the UK whenever possible. Seasonality is reflected in the dishes on offer in the cafe
- Products should be sourced with minimal environmental impact in terms of production, transportation and packaging
- Preference is given to Fairtrade, organic and co-operative production – it is our aim to continually increase our range of Fairtrade and organic products
- We aim to increase trade with independent producers and manufacturers, with preference given to other workers’ co-operatives and social enterprises, wherever possible.
- We do support boycotts from time to time where we feel the brand in question has an unacceptable approach to maintaining good working practices, human rights or environmental issues.
- For more information on GM foods please visit www.stopgm.org.uk
Ethics & Environment
We try to tread as lightly as we can and purchase goods and services in the most fair and sustainable way possible.
- We recycle all our cardboard, paper, tin cans, plastic bottles and glass via Emerge Recycling, a social enterprise based in Manchester.
- The Co-op’s cooked and uncooked food waste is composted by Emerge Recycling.
- We do not supply or sell plastic carrier bags. We offer organic cotton bags, produce boxes or paper bags and encourage the re-use of all of these items.
- We sell a variety of loose dried goods such as rice, pasta and legumes via our refill hoppers and our fruit and veg is generally plastic free as are our bread and deli items. We provide a variety of Suma Eco-Leaf cleaning refills and Suma Alternative and Faith in Nature body care refills to reduce single-use plastic.
- We use Freecycle when we need to dispose of unwanted items.
- We buy our gas and electricity from Ecotricity, “the provider who spends more of your energy bill on building new sources of green energy.”
- Telephones and internet services are purchased from the Phone Co-op, a workers’ co-operative based in Oxfordshire. It is the UK’s only telecoms co-operative, and 2008’s Best Social Enterprise.
- The shop buys the majority of its food from three co-ops: Suma in Yorkshire; Infinity Foods in Brighton and Essential Trading in Bristol.
- Our banking provider is the Co-operative Bank.
Living Wage Foundation
Eighth Day is an accredited Living Wage Foundation employer, this means that all our staff, including any agency staff we might use are guaranteed a wage that matches the wage rate set out by The Living Wage Foundation every year.
Why do we do this? We believe a fair day’s work deserves a fair days pay. Paying a wage that is enough to live on is good for business, good for the individual and good for society as a whole. For people who are paid the real Living Wage it means the difference between just getting the government minimum and earning enough to afford the things you need to live, like a decent food, decent housing, the ability to pay for your utilities and of course the occasional treat, these things are key for a happy, healthy workforce. It’s also very important to us that our staff know that we value the contribution they make within the business.
You can find out more about The Living Wage Foundation here: https://www.livingwage.org.uk/
Our Tax Policy
Eighth Day is a Fair Tax Mark Business, this means that we have been independently assessed and accredited as paying our fair share of corporation tax by the Fair Tax Mark Ltd who are a not-for-profit Community Benefit Society registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act.
You can find out more about The Fair Tax Mark here: https://fairtaxmark.net/
Here is our tax statement:
We are committed to paying all the taxes that we owe in accordance with the spirit of all tax laws that apply to our operations. We believe that paying our taxes in this way is the clearest indication we can give of our being responsible participants in society.
We will fulfil our commitment to paying the appropriate taxes that we owe by seeking to pay the right amount of tax (but no more), at the right rate, in the right place and at the right time. We aim to do this by ensuring that we report our tax affairs in ways that reflect the economic reality of the transactions we actually undertake in the course of our trade.
What we will not ever do is seek to use those options made available in tax law or the allowances and reliefs that it provides in ways that are contrary to the spirit of the law. Nor will we undertake specific transactions with the sole or main aim of securing tax advantages that would otherwise not be available to us based on the reality of the trade that we undertake. As a result the company will never undertake transactions that would require notification to HM Revenue & Customs under the Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes Regulations or participate in any arrangement to which it might be reasonable anticipated that the UK’s General Anti-Abuse Rule might apply.
We believe tax havens undermine the UK’s tax system. As a result whilst we may trade with customers and suppliers genuinely located in places considered to be tax havens we will not make use of those places to secure a tax advantage, and nor will we take advantage of the secrecy that many such jurisdictions provide for transactions recorded within them.
Our accounts will be prepared in compliance with this policy and will seek to provide all that information that users, including HM Revenue & Customs, might need to properly appraise our tax position. We will review this policy with our accountants annually to ensure that it is complied with.
In the spirit of transparency we believe that the public should be able to find out easily what our company pays in tax. You can click on the links to access our year end accounts as well as Tax Reconciliation document from our accountants Haines Watts. Additionally, we are happy to share the yearly remuneration received by our highest paid member of the co-operative.
Haines Watts Tax Reconciliation 2013-2016
Haines Watts Tax Reconciliation 2017
Haines Watts Tax Reconciliation 2021
FTM Tax-reconciliation-YE-22-YE-23
Remuneration received by the highest paid member of the co-operative for tax years 2020-2023
Fairtrade
At 8th Day, we support Fairtrade because we believe that it helps farmers, growers and producers in developing countries to get a fair deal instead of maintaining a system that is based on inequality and dependency. In a wider sense Fairtrade does in fact reflect our core beliefs: fair and honest trading with all of our suppliers and customers, whether they’re on the other side of the world or around the corner.
What is Fairtrade? The Fairtrade Foundation is the independent non-profit organisation that licenses use of the FAIRTRADE Mark on products in the UK in accordance with internationally agreed Fairtrade standards. The Foundation was established in 1992. The number of ethical labels is growing, but Fairtrade remains unique. While other schemes aim to protect the environment or enable companies to trace their coffee, Fairtrade ís focus is on helping farmers and workers improve the quality of their lives and take more control over their futures. Fairtrade is the only certification scheme whose purpose is to tackle poverty and empower producers in developing countries. Fairtrade delivers unique benefits to producers, businesses and consumers. Our mission: to connect disadvantaged producers and consumers, promote fairer trading conditions and empower producers to combat poverty, strengthen their position in world markets and take more control over their lives.
The shop currently stocks over two hundred Fairtrade lines; a lot more than just coffee and chocolate e.g. rubber gloves, beans, jam, peanut butter, tahini, dates, mango, pineapple, bananas, soap, biscuits, herbal teas, black teas, dessert wine, honey, nuts, olive oil and the list goes on.