Modern slavery
1. Introduction by the Chair of the Board, Nemone Mark Myers
This statement, made pursuant to section 54 (1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, sets out the approach taken by Shepherds Friendly to understand and minimise the potential risk of modern slavery in our business or supply chain.
2. What is modern slavery?
Modern slavery, sometimes called human trafficking, is an international crime, affecting around an estimated 21 to 45 million people around the world. It is a growing global issue that transcends age, gender and ethnicity. It includes victims who have been brought from overseas and vulnerable people in the UK, who are forced to illegally work against their will across many different industry and service sectors.
3. About Shepherds Friendly
Shepherds Friendly is a modern mutual specialising in the provision of savings, investments and protection policies, and is authorised and regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority.
4. Our commitment to the Principles of the Modern Slavery Act 2015
Shepherds Friendly has a zero tolerance to slavery and human trafficking. We aim to conduct our business in an ethical and transparent manner. We have robust policies and procedures in place to mitigate the risk of modern slavery taking place within our own business, third party relationships or any of our supply chains.
5. Our supply chains and third party relationships
Our suppliers are primarily UK based providers of goods and services. Due to the nature of our business and supplies, as well as our approach to governance, we consider our risk of slavery and human trafficking to be very low. We have a robust third party due diligence process in place to ensure that we work with partners who have culture and values aligned with those of the Society including ensuring compliance with the requirements of the Modern Slavery Act. We keep our third party relationships under regular review.
We ensure that any purchasing activity must adhere to all applicable UK laws and regulations and all applicable European laws, directives and regulations.
6. Our people
Our Corporate Social Responsibility policy reiterates our commitment to the principles of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and ensuring that we run our business with integrity, protecting the interests of our members and our people.
The Society’s recruitment and people management processes are designed to ensure that all persons we might employ are legally entitled to work in the UK and to safeguard our people from any abuse or coercion once in our employment.
The Society’s Dignity at Work policy and Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Work policy allows our people to raise concerns about harassment or bullying. We also operate a whistleblowing policy so that everyone knows that they can raise concerns about how we operate our business or about how colleagues are being treated.
As an organisation the Society has made a commitment to pay salaries that meet or exceed the real living wage as set by the Living Wage Foundation. As a Living Pensions employer the Society has committed to making a level of pension contributions that will help to ensure our people are able to meet their everyday basic needs in retirement.
This statement will be reviewed and updated annually.
