VOLUTION GROUP PLC AND SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES
(“Volution Group”)
ANTI-SLAVERY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING STATEMENT
About Volution Group
This is Volution Group’s statement on anti-slavery and human trafficking in accordance with the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our statement for the financial year ending on 31 July 2018.
Volution Group has a Premium Listing on Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. Volution Group owns and operates a range of businesses and is a leading supplier of ventilation products to the residential and commercial construction markets in the UK, the Nordics, Central Europe and Australasia. The Group sells over 20 million ventilation products and accessories each year and operates through two divisions: the Ventilation Group, which primarily supplies ventilation products for residential and commercial construction applications in the UK, the Nordics, the Benelux countries, Germany and Australasia; and Torin-Sifan, which supplies motors, fans and blowers to OEMs of heating and ventilation products for both residential and commercial construction applications in Europe. Further details of the organisation’s structure can be found at www.volutiongroupplc.com.
Our ethics
Volution Group endeavours to ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place within our employed workforce, or any of our supply chain. Although we believe that our exposure to the risks of modern slavery is relatively low, we are not complacent. We understand that, if we are to be successful in delivering our strategy for growth, then we must make sure that we interact with our employees, customers and others properly. That is why we have rolled out a Code of Conduct across Volution Group which sets out our commitment, within Volution Group and externally, to the value and importance that we place on honest, ethical and lawful conduct in all our business dealings.
Supply chains
Consistent with the principles set out in our Code of Conduct we prohibit forced labour, child labour, and discrimination within our supply chain. We ensure, as is reasonably practicable that our suppliers, where necessary, have controls in place to uphold our commitment to doing what we can to combat slavery and human trafficking.
We take appropriate steps to ensure that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains, including:
• Requiring new suppliers to declare as part of our supplier approval processes, that they are not involved in modern slavery or human trafficking, including confirmation of their understanding and commitment to the principles of the UK Modern Slavery Act and which are included within our Code of Conduct; and
• Requiring our current incumbent supply base to also declare their commitment and compliance to the principles set out in our Code of Conduct.
Employees
To ensure our employees are not subject to undue influence and are treated with dignity and respect, Volution Group has robust human resource policies and procedures in place across all its operations. These are audited to ensure compliance with employment legislation and prevent unethical working practices. Volution Group is committed to ensuring that all staff receive fair remuneration for the job they perform and undertakes regular reviews of terms and conditions across the workplace. Volution Group adheres to the payment of the National Living Wage in the UK and all compulsory minimum wage premiums as set by governments.
Volution Group also has robust recruitment processes, which include verifying the identity of each employee and their right to work in each country before commencing employment. All temporary workers are supplied through reputable recruitment agencies, which have been subject to thorough due diligence of their practices.
Volution Group’s Whistleblowing facility is designed to make it easy for employees to make disclosures, without fear of retaliation.
This statement has been approved by the Volution Group plc Board of Directors on behalf of the Group. A new statement will be published each year on the corporate website www.volutiongroupplc.com.
Ronnie George
Chief Executive Officer
Volution Group plc
1 August 2018
Note:
This statement covers Volution Group plc and all subsidiaries as listed on page 142 of the Annual Report 2018 which can be found on www.volutiongroupplc.com.