Modern Slavery Act 2015 – DRC Locums Statement

This policy is proprietary DRC Group material and should not be disclosed, copied or reproduced in any form, or any part of it used. Furthermore, it should not be made available in its original or a redacted form in response to any FOI request.

This statement is made pursuant to the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and sets out the steps that the DRC Group has taken and is 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. We have a zero‐tolerance approach to any form of modern slavery. We are committed to acting ethically and with integrity 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.

Our buisness:

Our group operates employment agencies and employment businesses, recruiting for permanent and temporary roles covering the functions and sectors set out below:

Functions:

• Medical
• Nursing
• Health professionals

Sectors:

• Healthcare

 Our supply chains are mainly made up of the following:

• Suppliers: Contractors (both limited companies and individuals), other employment businesses, umbrella companies, out‐sourced services providers.
• IT: IT services provision (IT and CRM support).
• Other services: administrative, cleaning, maintenance, candidate compliance, accounts and finance.

Our policies:

Our relevant policies include:

1. Anti‐slavery policy. This policy sets out the organisation’s stance on modern slavery and explains how employees can identify any instances of this and where they can go for help.
2. Recruitment policy. We operate a robust recruitment policy, including conducting eligibility to work in the UK checks for all employees to safeguard against human trafficking or individuals being forced to work against their will.
3. Whistleblowing policy. We operate a whistleblowing policy so that all employees know that they can raise concerns about how colleagues are being treated, or practices within our business or supply chain, without fear of reprisals.
4. Code of business conduct.  This code explains the way we behave as an organisation and how we expect our employees and suppliers to act.

 Risk areas:

All of the temporary workers we supply to our clients are fully vetted to ensure that there are no concerns whatsoever of human trafficking or slavery. We do not operate in high‐risk sectors or territories. Where we engage agency workers ourselves, we only do this through reputable employment businesses. 

We maintain full records of every payroll provider we engage with and ensure that payments to suppliers are only made to confirmed and matching bank accounts. We maintain a preferred supplier list of umbrella companies who we have vetted to ensure that they are compliant with all relevant legislation.

Our suppliers:

We operate a supplier policy and maintain 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 and a series of vetting checks. We include relevant provisions in all of our contracts with suppliers and out‐sourced services providers requiring them to comply with all anti‐slavery and human tracking legislation.

Training:

We conduct training for our staff, 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.

If a member of staff becomes aware of any issue about modern slavery or human trafficking, they must report this by contacting the UK modern slavery helpline on 08000 121 700, and also notify relevant regulatory and professional bodies, the relevant approved framework provider and any affected client.

Our 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.