Modern Slavery And Human Trafficking Statement
At Gracewood Group we recognise that slavery and human trafficking are significant human rights issues and are committed to taking appropriate and proportionate steps to mitigate the risk of these occurring within our business and our supply chain.
As a property developer operating within the UK, the key areas of our operation that could be affected by slavery and human trafficking are our directly hired employees, agency workers working on our behalf, contractors, subcontractor operatives working on our sites, and the workforce of our supply chain who supply materials to our business. The steps that we take to mitigate risks in relation to each of these areas are as follows:
- Employees:
- We verify that all employees have the right to work in the UK upon commencement of their employment.
- We make all employees aware of their working hours, leave and absence entitlements and other employment benefits via the Employee Handbook.
- Agency workers
- We aim to only engage agency workers that are provided by approved suppliers.
- We require all approved suppliers to ensure their agency workers have the right to work in the UK and to have procedures in place to minimise the risk of recruiting forced or compulsory labour.
- Contractors and Subcontractors:
- We require Contractors and Subcontractors to ensure their employees have the right to work in the UK.
- We consider Contractor’s and Sub-contractors’ approaches to employee rights and any breaches of human rights related legislation during our selection process.
- We ask all site operatives to provide evidence of their CSCS cards.
- We want all Contractors and Sub-contractors that purchase materials for use on our sites to consider the risk of modern slavery in their supply chain.
- Suppliers:
- We procure the majority of our directly sourced materials from UK based organisations that are required to comply with UK laws on forced labour. Where materials are directly sourced from outside of the UK we consider the risk of slavery and human trafficking as part of our selection process.
- Whistleblowing:
- Our whistleblowing procedure allows any employee or third party to confidentially raise a concern.