At Center Parcs, we respect the human rights of others and recognise that modern slavery is a violation of basic human rights and freedoms. We remain committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery of any type in our business or supply chain.
Doing the right thing is essential for our guests, our colleagues, our suppliers and our business. Our work to address modern slavery is fundamental to this and to our wider approach of respecting human rights.
We are committed to maintaining high ethical standards within our business and supply chain. We have clear policies that ensure a consistent approach to the standards and behaviours we expect from our employees and suppliers. We realise that robust policies and processes are crucial to help us uphold human rights and prevent modern slavery. Our policies and processes include:
- Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, which makes it clear that we conduct our business to the highest ethical, professional and legal standards and expect all our employees and those acting on our behalf to do the same. Any breach of the Code could result in disciplinary action and dismissal. All relevant colleagues undertake annual training and certify their compliance with the Code.
- Our Ethical Trading Policy, which aims to embed ethical standards into our business and ensure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our supply chain. In addition, we aim to work with UK and international suppliers who treat their obligations towards human rights and modern slavery with the same high importance that we do. All suppliers are required to adhere to this policy.
- Our Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy, which outlines our zero tolerance of bribery and corruption – this policy applies to all employees, temporary workers, agency staff, third parties acting on our behalf and suppliers.
- Our Procurement Policy, which provides guidelines for how we manage purchasing activities ensuring consistency, compliance and efficiency. It sets the standard for all purchases, aiming to achieve value for money, compliance with regulations and alignment with strategic goals. ESG matters are part of the overall evaluation process.
- An independent external Whistleblowing Hotline which is available for anyone to confidentially report concerns about unethical conduct, including modern slavery. This can be used by employees, temporary workers, agency staff, external contractors and consultants. Calls are monitored and escalated as appropriate.
- A risk training programme, which is undertaken by all employees and includes details about modern slavery, the issues surrounding modern slavery, signs to look out for and details of the independent whistleblowing helpline.
- A Supplier Registration System which ensures high-risk suppliers are correctly identified as such based on particular industries or production locations. High-risk suppliers are monitored to ensure their working practices are compliant.
- Pre-employment checks to ensure anyone recruited to work for Center Parcs in the UK and/or Ireland has the right to do so, and their basic rights are protected.
- Employee duplicate bank account checks, flagging up instances of duplicate or multiple bank account records, which could indicate coercive behaviour.
Due diligence and risk management
Recruitment
Whilst we recognise that the hospitality sector is regarded as high risk for modern slavery, we believe that in relation to our direct employees the risk is low because of our approach to recruitment. We manage this risk by ensuring that the people we hire have the right to work and that their basic rights as workers are protected. We ensure new joiners are issued with a contract of employment which confirms their working hours and benefits. We rely on a few key employment agencies for temporary employees and ensure their standards and ethics align with our approach to human rights and modern slavery.
Suppliers
We operate supply chains predominantly based in the UK and Ireland and have minimal contact with the countries and sectors that are generally considered to have a risk of modern slavery. However, we recognise that modern slavery risks could be found in our supply chain due to the manufacturer locations and products that we source e.g. cycle and uniform manufacturers.
During the pre-selection and on-boarding process, we assess suppliers and those categorised as high-risk are subject to further checks to ensure such risk is not manifested. This includes due diligence of their reputation, compliance with health, safety and environmental standards and the risk of modern slavery in their supply chain. We also review the prospective supplier’s modern slavery statement and check that the statement and underlying policies are compliant. For suppliers who are not required to publish a statement, we review further to ensure that their approach to identifying and mitigating human rights risks is compliant. Additionally, we send questionnaires to all high-risk suppliers to review their supply chains and obtain evidence of their modern slavery audits. Going forward, these questions will be embedded into the annual supplier relationship process. We will also send a copy of the Ethical Trading Policy to all approved suppliers as a reminder of our ethical trading standards.
Measuring effectiveness
We understand that we have an ongoing responsibility to assess and mitigate the evolving risk of modern slavery and that these risks are evolving. We are committed to increasing our understanding of these risks and embedding policies and practices to manage the risk.
The KPIs below help summarise some of the activities and progress we made this financial year:
- Cases of modern slavery discovered at Center Parcs or via high-risk suppliers: 0
- Modern slavery issues discovered via the employee duplicate records check: 0
- Cases reported through the Whistleblowing Hotline which specifically allege modern slavery: 0
- Modern slavery supplier assessments conducted: 184
