Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking Statement
Autorestore Limited (“we” or “us”) are committed to the highest possible ethical standards and corporate conduct and we expect our suppliers to adhere to these same standards. We are part of the Aurelius group (Group) and our ultimate parent company is AURELIUS Equity Opportunities SE & Co. KGaA and its head office in Germany. We require companies across our extended supply chain to understand and meet our expectations on anti-bribery, corruption, legal compliance and ethical conduct.
To this end, the following statement is offered in compliance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and sets out our approach to the prohibition of any form of forced labour or slavery within our supply chain.
- 1. Our values
We operate with strong corporate values: Excellence; Integrity; Passion; Proactivity; Togetherness; and Trust. Our values are underpinned by a set of corporate policies supporting our commitment to high ethical standards and doing business with integrity, including:
- A Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking policy reinforcing our commitment to ensuring there are no instances of forced labour, slavery or human trafficking in our business or supply chain and helping our people to identify these practices;
- A Whistleblowing Policy: we encourage all our workers, customers and other business partners to report any concerns related to the direct activities, or the supply chains of, our organisation. This includes any circumstances that may give rise to an enhanced risk of slavery or human trafficking. Our whistleblowing procedure is designed to make it easy for workers to make disclosures, without fear of retaliation; and
As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk we have in place system to identify and assess potential risk areas in our supply chain; to mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our supply chain; and to monitor potential risk areas in our supply chain.
Our adherence to these policies is subject to regular reviews, helping us to continuously improve in this area.
We have zero tolerance to slavery and human trafficking. To ensure all those in our supply chain and contractors comply with our values and ethics we have in place rigorous supply chain compliance program. In addition, we maintain an internal ‘Code of Conduct’ which sets out the following:
- We expect our suppliers and partners’ employees and their supply chains to operate to the highest standards of safety, quality, inclusion, integrity, sustainability and ethical conduct;
- When seeking new suppliers and partners we select those whose values and commitment to ethical business conduct and a sustainable future match our own and use objective processes and due diligence to ensure this; and
- We are opposed to the use of any form of child labour or practices which inhibit the development of children and are opposed to any employment that is not freely chosen. We commit to refrain from using any form of labour that could be described as ‘modern slavery’ and expect the same from all those we work
- 2. Our workforce and our supply chain
The majority of our employees are UK-based managerial or office-based staff, drivers and warehouse operatives, all of whom are paid at least the National Living Wage, and we believe there is a low risk of human slavery or forced labour in our direct workforce.
The risk may be more significant in our supply chain and we have therefore focused on enhancing our approach in relation to our supply chain as noted below.
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 our staff. The induction process that all employees, including drivers and warehouse operatives attend, is used to make employees aware of the content of these policies.
We are opposed to the use of any form of child labour or practices which inhibit the development of children and are opposed to any employment that is not freely chosen. We commit to refrain from using any form of labour that could be described as ‘modern slavery’ and expect the same from all those we work. - 3. Our effectiveness in combating slavery and human trafficking
We use the following key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure how effective we have been to ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in any part of our business or supply chains:
- Vetting procedures. The number or percentage of suppliers and sub-contractors that have been vetted for ethical labour practices.
- Supplier screening. The number and type of issues identified on screening suppliers and sub-contractors.
- Subcontractor inspections. The number of inspections of sub-contractors in at risk countries.
- Whistleblowing. The number of reported breaches in the past year.
- Training. The number or percentage of staff trained.
- 4. Progress we have made
We have continued to review and improve the way we seek to ensure there is no forced labour or human trafficking in our workforce or our supply chain.
Since we published our Modern Slavery Act Statement, we have:
- Reviewed our standard contractual terms that require our suppliers to commit to contributing to the prevention of modern slavery and human trafficking and we have amended our internal ‘Supplier Code’ which we require our suppliers to comply with;
- We have continued our programme of reviews to assess compliance by third party agencies with their commitments to preventing modern slavery and human trafficking and with other legislative requirements including relevant health and safety legislation; and
- Enhanced our pre-contract checks to assess the anti-slavery policies and procedures that new suppliers have in.
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 calendar year ending 31st December 2021.