Modern Slavery Act 2015

We are committed to the principles of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the abolition of modern slavery and human trafficking.

As an equal opportunities employer, we are committed to creating and ensuring a non-discriminatory and respectful working environment for our staff.  We want all our staff to feel confident that they can expose wrongdoing without any risk to themselves.

Our recruitment and people management processes are designed to ensure that all prospective employees are legally entitled to work in the UK and to safeguard employees from any abuse or coercion.

We do not enter into business with any organisation, in the UK or overseas, which knowingly supports or is found to be involved in slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour.

Our supply chain
Our supply chains are limited and we procure goods and services from a restricted range of UK and overseas suppliers and due to the nature of our business, we assess ourselves to have a low risk of modern slavery in our business and our supply chains.

Our policies in relation to the Modern Slavery Act 2015
The following policies are available to all staff:

• Values and Behaviours
• Whistleblowing policy
• Bullying and harassment policy (contained within our Staff Handbook)
• Diversity and inclusion policy
• Recruitment and selection policy (contained within our Staff Handbook)

Embedding the principles
We will continue to embed the principles through:

• Ensuring that consideration of the modern slavery risks and prevention are added to our policy review process as an employer and procurer of goods and services.
• Making sure our procurement strategies and contract terms and conditions include references to modern slavery and human trafficking.
• Continuing to take action to embed a zero-tolerance policy towards modern slavery.
• providing awareness training to staff on the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and informing them of the appropriate action to take if they suspect a case of slavery or human trafficking.
• Ensuring that staff involved in buying or procurement and the recruitment of workers receive training on modern slavery and ethical employment practices where necessary.

This statement has been approved by Elaine Luck (Head of Governance & Legal, with responsibility for HR) for the financial year ending 31 December 2021 and whilst we are not obliged to provide it, we have done so to endorse good governance.

This statement will be reviewed and updated annually.