1. Overview
| Document Version: | V1.0 |
| Effective Date: | 08-May-2024 |
| Review Frequency: | Annually or as needed in response to changes |
| Next Review Date: | 08-May-2025 |
2. Transparency Statement
This Transparency Statement is made in accordance to sections 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
It sets out the steps Vercox Consulting Ltd (“Vercox” or “we”) has taken and continues to take to understand and minimise the potential risk of modern slavery and human trafficking taking place within its organisation and supply chain.
3. Introduction
Vercox Consulting has a zero tolerance approach to bribery, corruption and human rights abuse.
It is our fundamental belief that there is no place in today’s modern businesses and supply chains for human rights abuses such as forced and compulsory labour, slavery, servitude and human trafficking.
4. About Our Business
Vercox Consulting is a Strategic Portfolio Management (SPM) and Collaborative Work Management (CWM) consultancy with focus on workflow automation and innovative bespoke solutions. Working mainly with SMEs and startups to design bespoke solutions and change the way teams work and collaborate with each other.
5. Our Commitment
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 and safeguard them from any abuse or coercion. We want all our staff to feel confident that they can expose wrongdoing without any risk to themselves.
We do not enter into business with any organisation, in the UK or abroad, which knowingly supports or is found to be involved in slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour.
Vercox Consulting is committed to:
- Ensuring that our ethics and values are central to all employee onboarding and that our policies are embedded within the culture of the company.
- Develop understanding of the importance of combatting modern slavery.
- Regularly assess suppliers to ensure risk is minimised and that the highest ethical standards are upheld within our supply chain.
- Explore ways to maintain up-to-date awareness and training on the impact and importance of modern day slavery.
- Explore ways to drive improvements within our supply chain and partners.
6. Our Supply Chain
Due to the nature of our business, we assess ourselves to have a low risk of modern slavery in our business and supply chains.
Our supply chain is limited to only essential services required to perform the operations of a consulting organisation. We operate a cloud-first approach prioritising the adoption of cloud technologies over traditional on-premises solutions. IT and communications, as well as financial management software and services comprise the vast majority of our expenditure, excluding personnel.
In order to address exploitation effectively, we assess each new supplier for potential issues relating to modern day slavery and human trafficking, and takes responsible decisions to ensure our supply chain does not contribute to either of these issues.
7. Living Wage
Vercox Consulting is committed to paying the ‘UK Living Wage’ to all employees and contractors. We require all suppliers providing goods and services to us to also pay the living wage to UK employees.
8. Risk Assessment & Management
Vercox assesses providers to identify risk based on a number of factors, including the geographic location of the supplier and the industries in which they operate.
By following UK Government guidance and focusing on the below four key areas of activity, we aim to constantly improve our policies regarding modern day slavery and continue to apply rigour when selecting partner and supplier organisations.
- Assess your risks
- Manage and develop polices
- Take action
- Learn and improve
We aim to ensure that our external expenditure complies with all applicable legislation.
9. Modern Day Slavery Training
Vercox Consulting offers all employees access to training on modern day slavery in order to raise awareness and ensure that the company maintains a focus on identifying and targeting modern day slavery both within our organisation and within our suppliers’ organisations and supply chains.