Modern Slavery

This statement is made pursuant to s.54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and sets out the steps that we have taken and are continuing to take to ensure that modern slavery or human trafficking is not taking place within our business or supply chain.

Modern slavery encompasses slavery, servitude, human trafficking and forced labour. Whittaker Office Supplies Ltd has a zero-tolerance approach to any form of modern slavery. We are committed to acting ethically and with integrity and transparency in all business dealings and to putting effective systems and controls in place to safeguard against any form of modern slavery taking place within the business or our supply chain.

The Business

Whittaker Office Supplies Ltd. trading as Workplace Wardrobe is based in Loughborough, Leics. It operates from a single site and is a supplier of clothing and PPE to all types of business customers throughout the UK. We do not have any international operations and we deal with approx.100 different suppliers.

High-Risk Areas

We have not identified any high-risk areas, our internal processes deal with recruitment, training, assessment, grievance, and discipline amongst our own staff. We have included requests for supplier compliance within our Supplier Questionnaire.

Policies

We operate several internal policies to ensure that we are conducting business in an ethical and transparent manner. These include:

• Anti-Bribery Policy: We are committed to implementing and enforcing effective systems to counter bribery. Therefore, it is the Company’s policy to conduct all aspects of its business in an honest and ethical manner.
• Business Ethics Policy: The business philosophy of Whittaker Office Supplies has been developed around a core set of values that are fundamental to the organisation’s development and success. In support of these values, the purpose of this Business Ethics Policy is to ensure that managers and employees have a clear understanding of the group’s minimum standards of operation and the expectations of our customers and stakeholders.
• Corporate Social Responsibility Policy for Suppliers: This policy outlines items of common interest with the aim of encouraging our suppliers to review their corporate activities from the perspective of CSR and to take clear action to further improve their CSR management. We have selected in four areas in which expectations of suppliers are especially high in the business consumable industry. Whilst covering 4 areas its relationship to Modern Slavery is in the Human Rights and Labour section and covers Discrimination, Respecting Human Rights, Prohibiting Child Labour, Prohibiting Forced Labour, Remuneration and Working Hours:
• Equality Policy: The Company is an Equal Opportunities Employer. We will promote equality of opportunity in the recruitment, employment, training, appraisal and promotion of all staff. Staff will be treated equally based on their relative merits and abilities.

The Equality Act requires that no job applicant, member of staff or customer will receive less favourable treatment on the grounds of the nine “Protected Characteristics”; their Age, Disability, Gender Reassignment, Marriage & Civil Partnership, Pregnancy & Maternity, Race, Religion or Belief, Gender or Sexuality.

Suppliers

Workplace Wardrobe operate a supplier policy and maintains a preferred supplier list.  We conduct due diligence on all suppliers before allowing them to become a preferred supplier.  This due diligence includes an online search to ensure that organisations have never been convicted of offenses relating to modern slavery.  Our Corporate Social Responsibility Policy for Suppliers policy forms part of our contract with all suppliers and they are required to confirm that no part of their business operations contradicts this policy.

In addition to the above, as part of our contract with suppliers, we require that they confirm to us that:

• They have taken steps to eradicate modern slavery within their business.
• They hold their own suppliers to account over modern slavery.
• They pay, as a minimum their employees at least the national minimum wage / national living wage (as appropriate)
• We may terminate the contract at any time should any instances of modern slavery come to light.

Training

We regularly conduct training for our procurement/buying teams so that they understand the signs of modern slavery and what to do if they suspect that it is taking place within our supply chain.

Performance Indicators

We will know the effectiveness of the steps that we are taking to ensure that slavery and/or human trafficking is not taking place within our business or supply chain if:

• No reports are received from employees, the public, or law enforcement agencies to indicate that modern slavery practices have been identified.
• Our Supplier Questionnaire does not identify any areas of concern regarding slavery and/or human trafficking.

Approval for this statement

This policy document was approved by the Board of Directors on 24 August 2017. It has been reviewed annually since that date.