Introduction
The United Kingdom Modern Slavery Act of 2015 requires businesses to publish an annual statement specifying the efforts taken to prevent slavery and human trafficking anywhere in their own business or their supply chains.
This Modern Slavery Statement applies to Kerridge Commercial Systems Limited and its affiliates companies (“KCS”), pursuant to section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the "Act").
The Company
KCS is a limited company, registered in England and Wales with registered number 7090521, and registered office of 2a Herongate, Charnham Park, Hungerford, Berkshire, RG17 0YU.
KCS is a dynamic and expanding company which provides specialist software, services and support to deliver fully integrated trading and business management solutions to distributive trades customers. We know that slavery, servitude, forced labour and human trafficking is a global and growing issue, existing in every region in the world and in every type of economy.
Our approach
We consider KCS to be relatively low risk in relation to modern slavery given the sector in which we operate.
We are committed and will work towards ensuring that there is no modern slavery in our business operations and at all times to act ethically and with integrity in all our relationships. We will not support any arrangement that is knowingly involved in modern slavery.
We expect all staff to act ethically and with integrity and to report any concerns which impact modern slavery using the appropriate reporting channels. Our management and executive teams are expected and are required to act upon them.
Our practices in relation to combatting modern slavery
Policies and training
All our staff are expected to comply with our group internal policies include our Business Ethics Policy where we confirm our responsibility to act at all times with integrity and honesty and within the law, and to act responsibly in leading and directing our business activities.
Our Equal Opportunities Policy reaffirms our strong commitment to providing for all our employees a working environment that is free from harassment, intimidation, or discrimination in any form that may affect the dignity of the individual.
We also operate a Whistleblowing Policy which encourages staff to report any wrongdoing which includes any human rights violations including any practices that relate to modern slavery. It includes any perceived wrongdoing by external agents and contractors. All reports will be fully investigated and appropriate remedial actions taken.
New employees receive induction training covering our company policies and our ethical stance, and this is supplemented by any further training as required. This is reinforced for managers in our Management Handbook.
Employment
We apply rigorous and thorough standards of integrity to the recruitment and management of our staff. These include pre-employment checks on any prospective employee prior to them joining us.
Additional safeguards include HR checks to ensure that KCS complies with local employment legislation and applicable regulations. These checks include ensuring that no KCS company employs young people under the legal employment age in any country in which we operate. Where applicable, KCS conforms to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates.
All of our staff are expected to comply with relevant laws and professional codes of conduct, as well as KCS other policies and procedures.
We have a HR compliance training programme to ensure compliance and ongoing awareness of our commitment to our people, customers and our supply chain.
Suppliers
KCS has established binding relationships with the businesses it engages to run its operations and premises, such as outsourced service providers, catering and cleaning providers. In our dealings with these suppliers we do not make any demands on them that may lead them to violate applicable laws including modern slavery. The majority of our suppliers are based in the UK and supply standard goods or services.
Our supplier base is reviewed regularly by the management team and any risks of modern slavery assessed. Should any suppliers and contractors be deemed to be anything other than low risk, they will be required to confirm that they comply with the principles and requirements of the modern slavery legislation, as well as their commitment to ethical trading and management.
Steps we will be taking to combat modern slavery in Financial Year 2024/5
Combating Modern Slavery is a central part of our ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) strategy and we are embedding this in all areas of our business. An important aspect of this is managing social challenges, such as modern slavery. As such in addition to our existing HR compliance training programme for Financial Year 2024/5 we will be assigning awareness training specifically on Modern Slavery for all colleagues across the KCS Group.
