We provide comparison and procurement services for energy and other utilities. We work with a range of utility suppliers and partners in order to provide those services. This policy sets out the key risk areas we face and our approach to avoiding and preventing modern slavery. We ensure that all of our supplier contracts contain an anti-slavery clause.
This clause, which flows down through all layers of our supply chain, prohibits suppliers and their employees from engaging in slavery or human trafficking. We ensure we can account for each step of our supply processes—we know who is providing goods and services to us and we have mechanisms and processes in place to check, which are set out in our Supplier Policy.
Our recruitment team follows firm policy and only uses agreed specified reputable recruitment agencies. To ensure the potential for slavery and human trafficking is reduced as far as possible, we thoroughly check recruitment agencies before adding them to our list of approved agencies.
This includes:
(a) investigating reputation
(b) ensuring the teammates which an agency provides has the appropriate paperwork (eg work visas)
(c) ensuring the agency provides assurances that the appropriate checks have been made on the person they are supplying
(d) We keep agents on the list under regular review, at least every 2 years.
For our general recruitment, we do the following:
(a) We always ensure all teammates have a written contract of employment and that they have not had to pay any direct or indirect fees to obtain work.
(b) We always ensure teammates are legally able to work in the UK.
(c) We check the names and addresses of our teammates (a number of people listing the same address may indicate high shared occupancy, often a factor for those being exploited).
(d) We provide information to all new recruits on their statutory rights including sick pay, holiday pay and any other benefits they may be entitled to.
If, through our recruitment process, we suspect someone is being exploited, the HR department will follow their reporting procedures.