Born from NASA technology and perfected for sleep.
About this statement
This statement is made by the Board of Directors of Dreams Ltd (Dreams) pursuant to Section 54, part 6 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (“the Act”). It covers the activities and actions undertaken by Dreams during the financial year ending 24 December 2024, to ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in any of our supply chains or in any part of our business.
“Dreams officially began its journey in Uxbridge in 1987, evolving from a sofa bed shop to a specialist in mattress retailing.
Since then, our business has significantly expanded, operating over 220 stores nationwide, managing our own Bed Factory in the Midlands, and maintaining 18 distribution centres throughout the UK. With a dedicated workforce of over 2,400 colleagues, we are the UK’s most loved bed retailer. Central to our mission - ‘delivering the best journey to your perfect quality bed’ is a key element of our core values: prioritising our customers, celebrating success and being authentic at every step. Our mission and values are underpinned by a people-first culture and a commitment to be a force for good, creating a safe, ethical and supportive place to work.
Recognising and addressing the serious and ongoing threat of modern slavery and human trafficking is fundamental to this. As our business expands and our supply chains become more intricate, we remain committed to ensuring all colleagues within Dreams and our supply chain partners are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect. We encourage everyone within the Dreams community to remain vigilant, speak up about potential issues, and trust that appropriate and meaningful actions will follow.
Throughout 2024, we have had no reportable incidents or significant non-conformances, and continued to improve transparency, visibility, and engagement with different parts of our supply chain. Renewing our strategic partnership with Verisio, an independent specialist in supply chain and ethical auditing, and leveraging existing partnerships, has deepened our mutual understanding of complex ethical issues and implemented resources and actions to reduce identified risks.
While we have made progress over the past year, we acknowledge that business growth brings increased risks. Therefore, we remain committed to continuous investment in areas such as relocating more of our supply chain closer to home each year and enhancing our rigorous ethical-audit programme.
I’m immensely proud of our colleagues across the entire Dreams network for their continued dedication to doing the right thing. Together, we are building a supportive environment focused on tackling this critical and complex issue head-on.”
Jonathan Hirst, Dreams CEO
We make, buy, sell and deliver beds and mattresses to UK households through our network of shops and online channels.
Our operations are spread across many sites:
Dreams trades under two brands: Dreams and Feather & Black and we are owned by the world’s largest bedding company, Somnigroup International, Inc. (formally known as Tempur Sealy International Inc.)
Products made at our own factory make up over half of all the goods we sell. Dreams operates its own warehousing and distribution service.
Our fleet of trailers distributes our beds and mattresses to our country-wide network of 12 home delivery service centres, where more than 589 full-time colleagues support the deployment of 195 3.5 tonne vans, each with two-person delivery crews. Every week, around 10,000 customer orders, increasing to more than 14,000 a week during our peak season, are fulfilled by our 150-strong warehouse team.
To scale output in Scotland, in June 2024, Dreams relocated its distribution warehouse in Cumbernauld to a 25,000 sq. ft warehousing facility in Gartcosh. This new facility provides a 30% increase in stock capacity to improve product availability and provide shorter lead times for customers in response to increasing demands for faster and more flexible deliveries. As the only Dreams distribution centre to serve the whole of Scotland, the Gartcosh site significantly reduces the length of handling time between a purchase leaving our Bed Factory and arriving at the customer’s home.
We make this uncompromising promise to our stakeholders, value chain and the public:
Dreams will not work with any business discovered to be knowingly involved with modern slavery or human trafficking.
We expect our suppliers to agree and align to Dreams’ values and treat all colleagues with fairness, dignity and respect.
In essence, modern slavery is where a person is exploited through threats of violence, coercion, deception, or abuse of power. It can include forced and child labour. Human trafficking refers to facilitating the travel of a person for the purpose of exploitation. The offences are set out in Part 1 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
We know that there is an ever-present risk of exposure to modern slavery in our complex and dynamic global supply chains, and that risk is heightened where we have less direct visibility.
Dreams has a zero-tolerance view of modern slavery in all its forms. We are committed to meeting this complex challenge through vigilance, rigorous oversight, ethical engagement with suppliers, and training.
We also recognise that there will be occasions when it is more appropriate for us to work with and support our suppliers in eradicating any instances of non-conformity identified during our ethical review process. Where this is feasible, it allows us to be a force for good in driving and managing change that positively benefits supplier workers.
We require our suppliers to:
Modern slavery and human trafficking in all its forms is a significant consideration for all areas of our business.
The executive leadership team set the overall strategic direction for our wider Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) obligations. Our ESG agenda is underpinned by our Force for Good business enabler which sets out the key programme of initiatives focused on doing right by our colleagues, the communities we touch and the planet. Overseeing our modern-slavery commitments forms part of our ESG responsibilities. Strategic implementation for modern slavery is delegated to our Modern Slavery steering group, chaired and supported by an industry-recognised independent consultancy on supply-chain ethics and sustainability. Senior managers from across the business are represented on the steering group so human-rights issues and modern-slavery awareness are integrated across all functions.
At an operational level, human rights and ethical auditing of Tier 1 suppliers (direct suppliers of Dreams product or services) sits with our Chief Commercial Officer, supported by the Technical and Ethical team. Ethical management of our Goods Not For Resale (GNFR) suppliers (goods and services that support our operations rather than our sales to customers) and colleague safety sits with our Head of Risk. Colleague welfare, training and our whistleblower programme is overseen by our Head of People.
Our ways of working:
Finished products
Summary of our progress in 2024: Our actions have continued to improve transparency, visibility, and engagement within different parts of our supply chain. This year we have:
Looking to 2025, Dreams remains dedicated to maintaining a consistent approach to managing modern-slavery risks by establishing a unified supplier engagement for risk mitigation. As part of this initiative, Dreams endorses suppliers to adopt the SMETA 4-Pillar audit methodology for both new and renewal audits. This advanced framework continues to emphasise labour standards and health and safety while expanding its scope to include environmental performance and business ethics. By integrating these additional elements, the 4-Pillar audit provides a more comprehensive evaluation of supplier practices, offering deeper insights into their overall impact and fostering enhanced trust among stakeholders.
Goods Not For Resale (GNFR) and service providers
A large proportion of Dreams’ suppliers provide materials and goods to support our business operations. These suppliers sit across many areas such as Marketing, Media, Finance, Logistics, Property and more. Many are long-established and reputable companies meeting our business-wide needs, whilst others are closer to our individual sites and fulfil their specific local requirements. Within our modern-slavery programme we have identified the inherent risks posed by our GNFR supplier base that historically employs a more transient, multicultural workforce. Typically, GNFR suppliers are smaller businesses providing services for building and property maintenance, vehicle maintenance and agency workers.
In 2024 we have:
In 2025, for GNFR suppliers, we will develop our assessment system to be part of the onboarding process and contract or agreement renewal for all GNFR suppliers regardless of their perceived risk at the point of onboarding
We believe education is key to the prevention of modern slavery throughout our network. We want each of our Dreams colleagues and anyone in our supply chain to be aware of the risks of modern slavery and feel empowered to speak out if they identify any issues. In 2024:
Within the People Team, we have implemented robust processes to ensure the legal recruitment and onboarding of our direct employees. Additionally, we require the need for flexibility in certain areas, where temporary workers are utilised to adapt to fluctuations in demand, such as at our Head Office, distribution centres, and Factory.
To maintain high standards, we have developed a comprehensive checklist scoring system for our recruitment agencies. This system forms the basis of our continued agreement with them. Dreams have a requirement that all agencies meet the required score before using them.
The Modern Slavery checklist, which has been an integral part of our recruitment process for several years, is embedded into the onboarding process for new recruitment agencies across all business areas. This ensures all new partners meet the required standards before entering into an agreement with Dreams.
For existing recruitment agencies, we have established an annual review process. This includes redistributing the Modern Slavery checklist and reassessing their scores. We are pleased to report that all current recruitment partners consistently meet satisfactory levels across all criteria. Whether we are actively working with them or planning to in the future, our annual review for all partners will be conducted again at the end of 2025.
Throughout the year, Dreams acknowledges several well-being awareness days, weeks and run a number of mental health support programs company wide. By prioritising mental health, Dreams strive to create a positive, supportive, and psychologically safe workplace for all.
In addition, to better understand Dreams’ employee experiences, Dreams conducts an annual Wellbeing and D&I survey to help identify areas for improvement and action plans.
Dreams also partner with Retail Trust, a UK-based charity, to offer colleague mental health and well-being services alongside responsible financial guidance and tools. For no charge, colleagues can access emergency non-repayable hardship grants and wellbeing counselors through Retail Trust.
To help foster a culture of trust and open communication colleague voices are heard through regular listening groups and culture surveys.
Furthermore, Dreams operations offer colleagues access to the Dreams Safety Portal, an app that enables real-time reporting and analysis of employee health and safety risks.
Dreams encourages customer engagement through multiple feedback channels as part of its commitment to transparency and accountability. These channels allow customers to provide feedback about Dreams’ products, services such as pre- and post-delivery experience or our culture, including any modern-slavery issues.
We celebrate the positive customer reviews and identify areas for improvement. We investigate all matters raised that require further risk mitigation or remedial actions, acting in partnership with other stakeholders as appropriate.
At Dreams, we recognise that managing the risk of modern slavery is a work in progress and there will always be more we can do.
We will remain committed to doing the right thing and strive to create an environment where we can continually improve and take appropriate steps to tackle identified non-compliances and mitigate risks.
During 2025, we plan to:
Dreams will never knowingly enter into business with any organisation involved in slavery, forced labour or human trafficking.
This statement is approved, on behalf of the Board of Directors of Dreams, by the Chief Executive Officer.
Jonathan Hirst
Chief Executive Officer
Statement published June 2025