Stop managing pest control. Retain it.
With Total Assurance, you retain Stratton the way you would retain a firm of solicitors. One senior partner at Stratton takes responsibility for pest risk across every one of your sites: preventing it, answering for it, and dealing with it when something goes wrong. Everything is included.
The same bad morning, twice.
Monday, 07:10A retailer’s auditor finds droppings in goods-in at one of your sites.
With a standard contract
You ring the contractor and get a call centre. An engineer is booked for later in the week. Your technical manager spends three days digging service reports out of a folder and writing the corrective action themselves. The invoice arrives with the engineer. Your board finds out when the grade drops.
On retainer
You call your named partner at Stratton, who already knows the site and its history. A senior responder is on site within your agreed window and tells you why it happened, not just what was caught. The auditor has the full evidence pack within 24 hours, and Stratton attends the close-out with you. The works are covered, so there is no invoice. Your board hears it from Stratton first: what happened, why, and what has changed.
Stratton already knows why.
Your monitoring should tell you something happened.
Ask the technical director of any large estate who’s responsible for their pest control, and you’ll get a contractor’s name. Ask who’s responsible for the risk, and the room goes quiet.
Total Assurance answers that question with a name. We take the risk on, across every site, and we answer for it: to you, to your auditors and to your board. It’s too important to delegate, so I lead it myself.
Why it matters who owns it.
In 2026, a national retailer was fined £2 million after mice were found in three of its stores. All three were shut. A single food recall now costs a UK business close to £550,000. And this spring, three UK food products were recalled for rodent contamination within 25 days, more than in the previous eight years put together.5
Three recent costs of pest and hygiene failure in the UK: a £2 million fine, a £1.1 million fine, and an average recall cost of £550,000.
£2,000,000
Fine on a national retailer for mouse activity at three stores, July 20261
Each store closed under a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice
£1,100,000
Fine on a national supermarket for hygiene failures at one in-store bakery, May 20262
£737,000 after an early guilty plea
£550,000
Average cost of a UK food recall, 2026 survey of 502 businesses3
Figure reported as “almost £550,000”
Each mark represents £5,000.
| Year | Rodent contamination | Insects and other pests |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 1 | 2 |
| 2019 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | 0 | 1 |
| 2023 | 0 | 1 |
| 2024 | 0 | 2 |
| 2025 | 0 | 1 |
| 2026 (to 24 October) | 3 | 0 |
What you get.
Someone senior who answers for it.
A named partner at Stratton who knows every one of your buildings.
More
- A 24-hour line to a senior person, never a call centre.
- Stratton in the room with you at audits, retailer visits and EHO inspections.
- A two-page briefing for your board every quarter, and a conversation with them about it.
One standard at every site.
Every site is run to SEPOS, our operating standard.
More
- Every finding closed and proven, never left as “advised”.
- Unannounced mock audits every quarter, so the first person to find a gap is one of ours.
- A full, scored audit of the whole estate every year.
Your evidence, always ready.
Every visit, finding and fix recorded in Stratton Pulse, where your own team can see it.
More
- A complete evidence pack for any auditor within 24 hours.
- An annual due diligence dossier for your lawyers and insurers.
- Our Pest Evidence System, so your own teams keep records to the same standard.
No invoice when something happens.
All pest work included: routine visits, call-outs and treatments.
More
- If an auditor raises a pest non-conformance, we carry out the corrective works and attend the close-out at no extra cost.
- Proofing included up to an agreed annual value.
New things, first.
New Stratton technology and services reach retained clients before anyone else, at no extra cost.
Major building works beyond the agreed proofing value, and anything outside pest management, are quoted separately.
Three ways to work with Stratton.
Stratton Site
One site, managed under SEPOS
Quoted per site
Book an Operational Site ReviewStratton Estate
Several sites, one standard, one record
Quoted per estate
Book an Operational Site ReviewRetained
Stratton Total Assurance
Retained. One Stratton partner, every site, everything included
Retainers from £150,000 per annum
Request a private consultation
What it costs
Retainers from £150,000 a year.
That covers everything above, at every site, with no call-out fees and no incident invoices. We take on a limited number of retainers each year, because each one is held personally by a senior partner. It starts with a private conversation, not a quote.
Request a private consultationTalk to us privately.
Prefer email? Write to enquiries@strattonem.com.
Stratton Total Assurance supports audit readiness and due diligence. It does not guarantee audit outcomes and does not constitute legal advice. SEPOS is Stratton’s proprietary operating standard; it is not an accreditation or certification. “Partner” describes a senior Stratton role, not a legal partnership. The morning described above is an illustration, not a client account.
Sources
- Food Manufacture, “Major retailer hit with £2M fine after pest infestation in multiple stores”, 22 July 2026. foodmanufacture.co.uk/Article/2026/07/22/major-retailer-hit-with-2m-fine-after-pest-infestation-in-multiple-stores/ Back
- Torfaen County Borough Council, “Morrisons fined £750,000 over hygiene failings”, May 2026. torfaen.gov.uk/en/news/morrisons-fined-750000-over-hygiene-failings Back
- Food Safety News, “UK survey puts average recall cost at almost £550,000”, 21 September 2026. foodsafetynews.com/2026/09/uk-survey-puts-average-recall-cost-at-almost-550-000/ Back
- Food Standards Agency, “Food alerts, January 2018 to 24 October 2026 (open data, OGL 3)”, retrieved 27 October 2026. data.food.gov.uk/food-alerts/id Back