Introduction
Modern slavery and human trafficking are despicable crimes which have no place in society. At the Latus Group we acknowledge that unfortunately these crimes are still real world occurrences and affect millions of people around the world, particularly in th developing world. We acknowledged that evry company is at some risk of being involved, even if unknowingly, in this crime through its own operations and supply chain.
The Latus Group and its subsidiary companies have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and are fully committed to preventing slavery and human trafficking in our operation and supply chain.
We have assessed our supply chains and will regulary review this assessment to review and update the risk of Modern Slavery within them.
This statement sets out the actions that we have taken to understand all potential modern slavery risks related to our business, and to implement steps to prevent slavery and human trafficking.
Our business and supply chains
Based in and operating across the UK, the Latus Group parent Company is Latus Group Debtco Ltd. The subsidiary companies are Latus Group Bidco Ltd and 3 trading companies:
- Latus Health Ltd
- Latus Group (UK) Ltd
- The Industrial Diagnostics Company LtdWe deliver Occupational Health and related services to other businesses and into the education and public health sectors.Our supply chains are not complicated and are largely involved with the procurement of consumable and disposable items required in the services we deliver to our customers.Our supplier selection and on-boarding procedure includes due diligence of the supplier’s reputation, respect for the law, compliance with health, safety and environmental standards, and references.
Risk assessment
We conduct an annual review to risk assess our supply chain by taking into account:
- The risk profile of individual countries based on the Global Slavery Index
- The business services rendered by the suppliers
- The presence of vulnerable demographic groups
- A news analysis and the insights of labour and human rights groupsThis assessment will determine our response and the risk controls that we implement.
Policies
Latus Group operates the following policies for identifying and preventing slavery and human trafficking in our operations:
- Whistleblowing Policy – we encourage all employees, customers and suppliers to report any suspicion of slavery or human trafficking without fear of retaliation. We provide in detail about the UK Government helplines which can be used to report suspicions of slavery or trafficking.
- Code of Conduct – our code encourages employees to do the right thing by clearly stating the actions and behaviour expected of them when representing the business. We strive to maintain the highest standards of employee conduct and ethical behaviour when operating abroad and managing our supply chain.
- Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy to educate our stakeholders on the Group’s stance regarding these crimes.
Supplier due diligence
Latus Group conducts due diligence on new suppliers during on-boarding and on existing suppliers at regular intervals. This includes, where appropriate:
- Assessing risks in the provision of particular services
- Auditing the suppliers, and their health and safety standards, labour relations and employeecontracts
- Requiring improvements to substandard employment practices
- Sanctioning suppliers that fail to improve their performance in line with our requirementsWe require suppliers who are deemed to carry risk of slavery or trafficking in their operations to attest that:
- They don’t use any form of forced, compulsory or slave labour
- Their employees work voluntarily and are entitled to leave work
- They provide each employee with an employment contract that contains a reasonable noticeperiod for terminating their employment
- They don’t require employees to post a deposit/bond and don’t withhold their salaries for any reasons
- They don’t require employees to surrender their passports or work permits as a condition of employment
Awareness
Latus Group raises awareness of modern slavery issues by putting up posters across our facilities and sending email that is focused specifically on modern slavery to all our staff, which explains:
-
- Our commitment in the fight against modern slavery
- Red flags for potential cases of slavery or human trafficking
- How employees should report suspicions of modern slavery
This statement covers 1 June 2024 – 31 may 2025 and has been approved at a meeting of the board of directors.
