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Modern Slavery Statement
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OUR POLICIES

Vanquish Tech Modern Slavery Statement

 

Identifying Modern Slavery
Definition of slavery and servitude

Slavery, in accordance with the 1926 Slavery Convention, is the status or condition of a person over whom all or any of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised. Since legal ‘ownership’ of a person is not possible, the key element of slavery is the behaviour on the part of the offender as if he/ she did own the person, which deprives the victim of their freedom. Servitude is the obligation to provide services that is imposed by the use of coercion and includes the obligation for a ‘serf’ to live on another person’s property and the impossibility of changing his or her condition.

Definition of forced or compulsory labour

Forced or compulsory labour is defined in international law by the ILO’s Forced Labour Convention 29 and Protocol. It involves coercion, either direct threats of violence or more subtle forms of compulsion. The key elements are that work or service is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the person has not offered him/her self voluntarily.

Definition of human trafficking

An offence of human trafficking requires that a person arranges or facilitates the travel of another person with a view to that person being exploited. The offence can be committed even where the victim consents to the travel. This reflects the fact that a victim may be deceived by the promise of a better life or job or may be a child who is influenced to travel by an adult. In addition, the exploitation of the potential victim does not need to have taken place for the offence to be committed. It means that the arranging or facilitating of the movement of the individual was with a view to exploiting them for sexual exploitation or non-sexual exploitation. The meaning of exploitation is set out on legislation.gov.uk.

Definition of child labour

Child labour is defined by international standards as children below 12 years working in any economic activities, those aged 12-14 engaged in more than light work, and all children engaged in the worst forms of child labour (ILO).

The term “child labour” is often defined as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. Whether or not particular forms of “work” can be called “child labour” depends on the child’s age, the type and hours of work performed, the conditions under which it is performed and the objectives pursued by individual countries.

Children can be particularly vulnerable to exploitation, but child labour will not always constitute modern slavery. It will still be necessary to determine whether, based on the facts of the case, the children in question are being exploited in such a way as to constitute slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour or human trafficking. For example, it is possible for children to undertake some ‘light work’ which would not necessarily constitute modern slavery. ‘Light work’ is defined by article 7 of ILO Convention No. 138.

Children do have particular vulnerabilities which should be considered when determining whether modern slavery is taking place. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 specifically recognises that it is not necessary for a child to have been forced, threatened or deceived into their situation for it to be defined as exploitation.

Introduction

We are committed to taking the necessary action to ensure that everyone who works for Vanquish Tech – in any capacity – benefits from a working environment in which their fundamental rights and freedoms are respected. We also do not tolerate forced, bonded, or compulsory labour, human trafficking, or other forms of slavery within our operational divisions or within our supply chain.

 

Our structure and supply chains

Vanquish Tech Limited is a company incorporated in the UK. Our customers are predominantly located in the UK and Ireland.

We provide organisations with Hardware, Software, Cloud and Professional Technology Solutions. We do not specialise in any industry-specific vertical  or solution but partner with third party organisations for these deliverables.

We have about 25 staff, almost all of whom are based in the UK. To offer our customers the most up-to-date and comprehensive selection of technology, we collaborate with more than 175 different hardware and software vendors. We also work with a large number of specialised service providers to supplement the services offered by our team.

The majority of our business comes from the small to medium-sized business segment. We also serve large enterprise customers and the corporate mid-market.

Our Company Procedures

We believe that the likelihood of slavery or human trafficking is low given the nature and locations of our business. Additionally, the majority of our revenue comes from nations that conventional ethical indices, along With the Global Slavery Index  consider to be low risk.

Additionally, we think that the business model and strategies of Vanquish Tech are unlikely to pose a significant danger of slavery or human trafficking.

We have a number of vetting procedures in place which we consider to be appropriate to our business and effective in preventing modern slavery from occurring in our business or supply chains.

Employment
  • Market-related pay and benefits are reviewed annually to ensure we compliance of the Act
  • We treat our employees in a unprejudiced, lawful and professional manner and provide for fair working conditions, including health and safety, holiday entitlements, health and wellness benefits.
  • Strict hiring procedures are followed in accordance with employment legislation, including verifications of “right to work” documents, employment contracts, and age verification for all new hires. We also ensure that all of our employees are aware of their legal and contractual employment rights.
Due Diligence of our supply chains

 As part of our initiative to identify and to mitigate risk:

  • We ensure all our suppliers comply with the Act, should we identify or suspect signs of modern slavery, our supplier will be contacted to investigate and remedy the infringement. Additional steps will also be taken to contact local authorities and report these suspicions.
  • In our supplier vetting procedure we pursue confirmation by our top suppliers who work with us providing products and/or services for our clients’ business use, in terms of spend, transparency of their compliance with the Act.
Supporting our employees
  • According to our employee handbook, we are all required to conduct ourselves ethically, and we anticipate that everyone will always abide by the law and uphold our company’s principles.
Improving our Good Business Practices

In order to further reduce the possibility of modern slavery and trafficking, we intend to put the following into effect in 2022:

  • Improved supplier vetting procedures to enable us to better identify non compliance to the Act
  • A review and improve our Supplier Code of Conduct, to ensure provisions against the risk of modern slavery remain in line with good practice
  • Complete an annual review and analysis of the disclosures made by our suppliers to ensure that their organizations update and play their role in conducting good business practice in relation to the act.

This Statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ended 31st October 2022.

It was approved by the Vanquish Tech Limited Board with effect from 1st April 2022 and signed on its behalf by:

Simeon Taylor

Chief Executive Officer

1st April 2022

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