Modern Slavery Act 2015
23/24 Modern Slavery Statement
Introduction
This statement is made in accordance with the Section 54 (1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and sets out the steps that the Scrivens Group of Companies have taken, and are continuing to take, to make sure that modern slavery or human trafficking is not taking place within our business or our supply chain.
Our Policy on Slavery and Human Trafficking
Scrivens Opticians and Hearing Care is aware of its responsibilities towards customers, service users, employees and the local authority and expects all suppliers to adhere to the same ethical principles. We operate a number of internal policies to ensure that we are conducting business in an ethical and transparent manner. These include our:
- Whistleblowing Policy – The Company encourages its staff, customers and other organisations to report any concerns they have related to the direct activities, or the supply chains, of the Company. This includes any circumstance that may give rise to an enhanced risk of slavery or human trafficking. The Company’s whistleblowing procedure is designed to make it easy for workers to make disclosures, without fear of retaliation.
- Equal Opportunities – We have a range of controls to protect staff from poor treatment and/or exploitation, which comply with all respective laws and regulations. These include provision of fair pay rates, fair terms and conditions of employment, and access to training and development opportunities.
- Code of Conduct – The Company’s Code of Conduct makes it clear to employees the actions and behaviour expected of them when representing the organisation. The Company strives to maintain the highest standards of employee conduct and ethical behaviour when operating abroad and managing its supply chain.
- Recruitment Policy – The Company uses only specified, reputable employment agencies to source labour and always verifies the practices of any new agency it is using before accepting workers from that agency.
- Staff Incident and Information Security Reporting Procedure – This procedure outlines how staff can report any incidents, whether they are Near Miss or Actual.
Training
- To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains and our business, we provide training to relevant members of staff.
- Advice and training about modern slavery and human trafficking is available to staff through our mandatory safeguarding children and adults training programmes, our safeguarding policies and procedures, and our safeguarding leads.
- We are continually looking at ways to increase awareness within our organisation, and to ensure a high level of understanding of the risks involved with modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains and in our business.
Board of Directors’ Approval
This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 27th October 2024.
The Board of Directors has considered and approved this statement and will continue to support the requirements of the legislation.
Signed on behalf of the Board of Directors:
Nicholas Georgevic
Chairman and Chief Executive
Date: 30.11.2023
