Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement

Introduction

This Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement is a response to Section 54(1), Part 6 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and relates to actions and activities for the financial year ending 31 October 2021. 

Empower Me Recruitment Ltd (‘the Company’, ‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘our’) is committed to preventing slavery and human trafficking violations in its own operations, its supply chain, and its products. We have zero-tolerance towards slavery and require our supply chain to comply with our values. 

Organisational structure

Empower Me Recruitment Ltd has business operations in the United Kingdom.

We operate in the Recruitment sector. The nature of our supply chains is as follows: We work with a number of key direct suppliers, who provide us with staff, such as healthcare staff and services, such as outsourced business processes, IT software and marketing services

For more information about the Company, please visit our website: www.empowermerecruitment.com.

Policies

We operate a number of internal policies to ensure that we are conducting business in an ethical and transparent manner. 

These include the following: 

  • Recruitment and selection policy – We seek to comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The policy gives our workers, contractors
  • Supplier code of conduct – We will give guidance to our suppliers on how to work with us to comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015
  • Whistleblowing policy – We encourage all the staff and contractors to report any infringement with respect to the Modern Slavery Act 2015
  • Staff code of conduct – Our staff will be trained and issued with guidance on the code of conduct with respect to Modern Slavery Act 2015
  • Procurement policy – We will highlight the guidance to the Modern Slavery Act 2015
  • Safeguarding policy – We have guidance which is used in all safeguarding to prevent modern slavery

We make sure our suppliers are aware of our policies and adhere to the same standards.

Due Diligence

As part of our efforts to monitor and reduce the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our supply chains, we have adopted the following due diligence procedures: 

  • Internal supplier audits.
  • External supplier audits.

Our due diligence procedures aim to:

  • Identify and action potential risks in our business and supply chains.
  • Monitor potential risks in our business and supply chains
  • Reduce the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our business and supply chains.
  • Provide protection for whistleblowers.

Risk and compliance

The Company has evaluated the nature and extent of its exposure to the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in its UK supply chain through:

  • Evaluating the slavery and human trafficking risks of each new supplier.
  • Creating an annual risk profile for key suppliers.
  • Reviewing on a regular basis all aspects of the supply chain based on supply chain mapping.

We do not consider that we operate in a high-risk environment because the majority of our supply chain is based in the UK and in low-risk industries, such as internet software and services.

We do not tolerate slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains. Where there is evidence of failure to comply with our policies and procedures by any of our suppliers, we will seek to terminate our relationship with that supplier immediately.

Effectiveness

The Company uses Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure its effectiveness and ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in its business and supply chains. These KPIs are as follows:

  • We will contact suppliers to enquire about their modern slavery practices every 3months.
  • We will train our staff about modern slavery issues and increase awareness within the Company.
  • We will carry out a regular audit of suppliers – 75% of suppliers each year.

Training our staff

The Company requires its staff to complete training and ongoing refresher courses on slavery and human trafficking. The Company’s training covers:

  • How to identify the signs of slavery and human trafficking.
  • What initial steps should be taken if slavery or human trafficking is suspected.
  • How to escalate potential slavery or human trafficking issues to the relevant parties within the Company.
  • What external help is available.
  • What steps the Company should take if suppliers in its supply chain do not implement anti-slavery policies in high-risk scenarios, including their removal from the Company’s supply chain.

Next steps

In the next financial year, we intend to take the following steps to tackle slavery and human trafficking by: 

  • We will seek to comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015

The statement was approved by the board of directors.

Timestamp 12 October 2020

Date 12 October 2020