Assisi modern slavery and human trafficking statement
This statement sets out the steps Assisi Pet Care Limited (“Assisi”) has taken and continues to take to understand and minimise the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking in its business and supply chains. It is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and should be read alongside our Modern Slavery Policy, which is our source of truth on this topic.
About Assisi
Assisi Pet Care, established in August 2020 to create a player of scale in the European pet care market.
Assisi is delivering growth in the pet care market through a buy-and-build strategy, broadening its offer with each transaction and developing omni-channel distribution across an expanding number of European countries.
Our commitment
Assisi opposes the use and exploitation of forced labour -including slavery, servitude, any form of forced or compulsory labour, and trafficking for the purposes of exploitation and expects everyone who works for us or on our behalf to share our zero-tolerance approach.
This applies to all those who work for us or on our behalf, including employees, agency workers, casual and freelance staff.
As an equal opportunities employer, we're committed to a non-discriminatory and respectful working environment where our people feel confident raising concerns without risk to themselves. Our recruitment and people management processes are designed to confirm that prospective employees are legally entitled to work in the UK and to safeguard employees from abuse or coercion. We do not enter into business with any organisation, in the UK or abroad, that knowingly supports or is found to be involved in slavery, servitude or forced or compulsory labour.
Our responsibilities
Our Executive Leadership Team is responsible overall for ensuring that our Modern Slavery Policy and this statement meet our legal and ethical duties. Our Chief Operating Officer and People Director hold day-to-day responsibility for implementing our policy, monitoring its use and effectiveness, answering queries on it, and auditing internal processes to ensure that forced labour is not taking place in our business or supply chains.
They also prepare this statement each year and present it to the Board for approval.
Our supply chain
Due to the nature of our business, we assess ourselves to have a low risk of modern slavery in our business and supply chains. Our supply chains are limited: we procure goods and services internally from Wales, England and Poland, and from a range of other UK and overseas suppliers, including in Thailand and China.
We take the following steps to prevent, evaluate and address the risk of forced labour in our supply chain:
- we have established a Supplier Code of Conduct, which sets out our expectations of suppliers and which we may impose as a contractual obligation;
- we review our supply chains annually to evaluate the risk of forced labour and take appropriate action wherever a risk is identified; and
- we consider each supplier's conduct against our Supplier Code of Conduct when awarding or renewing business with them.
We train employees who work with our supply chain on modern slavery and our Supplier Code of Conduct, to help reduce the risk of forced labour across our supply chain.
Our policies
Our approach is underpinned by our Modern Slavery Policy and our Respect At Work policy, which together set out our expectations of employees, workers and suppliers on ethical, social and environmental responsibility.
Employee responsibilities
People Leaders are responsible for applying our Modern Slavery Policy within their area of responsibility. All employees are expected to stay alert to any indicators of forced labour in our business or supply chain. Anyone who suspects a breach of our policy, or who has concerns about forced labour anywhere in our business or supply chain, should notify our Chief Operating Officer or People Director as soon as possible.
Monitoring our effectiveness
We review our Modern Slavery Policy and this statement each year to ensure they remain effective, and we consider how any concerns raised have been handled and whether further action is needed.
This statement has been approved by the People Director, and will be reviewed and updated annually.
