Modern Slavery

Background

Forced labour and human trafficking are forms of modern slavery, with official statistics recording 19,125 victims in the UK in 2024, with 31% of those being children, and experts estimating the true hidden total figure to be over 122,000. These crimes are a hidden scourge within our society. 

The UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 is legislation designed to combat slavery, servitude, forced labour, and human trafficking. It aims to enhance victim protection, and encourage good practice in the prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of modern slavery crimes.

Legislation within the act requires commercial organisations with a total annual turnover of £36 million or more to publish an annual modern slavery statement. Turnover at Beech Grove Business Services falls well below this threshold and therefore the business is not legally required to have a formal policy or statement under the act, however we share the aims of the Act and choose to establish and follow a simple policy in line with the legislation.

We believe this to be the best ethical practice, demonstrating corporate social responsibility and our commitment to Human rights, and in addition it helps us to align our values with those of larger businesses with whom we may trade, and who may wish their smaller suppliers to have a policy in place, reviewed and audited as part of their own due diligence.

Our Policy

As a business, we will always maintain an ethical approach in the way we operate and trade and will apply zero tolerance to slavery and human trafficking. This will include careful selection of any suppliers that we use, to ensure that all goods and services are sourced from respectable supply chains and that modern slavery plays no part in any of those activities.

We will take action to understand the potential modern slavery risks within our business activities and those of our suppliers and clients, and will ensure that no slavery, forced labour, or human trafficking takes place within our supply chains.

As a small business our supply chain is limited in size and scope, consisting mainly of IT services and marketing, along with stationery, knowledge, and specialist documentation suppliers. Whenever engaging with a new supplier, we will check their policies, reputation, and publicly available information for any suspicion of involvement in modern slavery or human trafficking.

If any suspicion of modern slavery should come to the attention of the business owner or anyone else working for Beech Grove, either within our supply chain or one of our clients, those suspicions will be investigated and the appropriate action taken straight away.

Any associates working on behalf of Beech Grove will be subject to this and all our other professional and business policies.

As a small business we can have very limited influence on the behaviour of our suppliers, however, should it become apparent that any part of our supply chain is not acting in accordance with the UK Modern Slavery Act, we will immediately seek to change to an alternative supplier.