Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement

At Anchor (defined as Anchor Hanover Group and its subsidiaries), we recognise our obligations to combat slavery and human trafficking within our business and supply chains. We are committed to maintaining best practice and to seeking continuous improvement.

Our Business

We are England’s largest provider of housing for older people and one of the largest providers of care. We serve more than 65,000 residents in almost 55,000 properties across 1,700 sites and operate in more than 85% of local authorities in England.  We have 6,600 residential care customers and employ more than 10,000 colleagues. Our annual turnover is £628.7 million.

Our supply chains include agency workers, housing and care products, logistics, property and construction, technology and other goods and services and we have a robust risk management framework in place to identify and mitigate any risks associated with modern slavery and human trafficking across our activities.

Our policies on slavery and human trafficking

Anchor is committed to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business dealings and relationships and we have implemented and enforced effective systems and controls to ensure slavery is not taking place anywhere in our organisation or in any of our supply chains.

We have robust HR policies and procedures in place to ensure compliance with employment legislation and to prevent unethical working practices. We are committed to ensuring fair remuneration and were the first large national care and housing provider to commit to being a Living Wage Foundation employer. 

Systems are in place to encourage reporting of concerns and the protection of whistle blowers. Our employees also have access to a free 24-hour colleague assistance service.

We only use reputable employment agencies to source agency workers.

Supplier due diligence

The majority of our suppliers are based within the UK, but we are aware that some of our suppliers outsource or manufacture overseas. We are aware that the risk is higher with these suppliers and ensure we only work with reputable businesses that have systems in place to ensure their supply chains comply with our values. We are committed to undertaking appropriate due diligence when procuring goods and services to mitigate the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking within our supply chain. We do this through taking appropriate measures in the selection of suppliers to enable the exclusion of suppliers with convictions under the Modern Slavery Act 2015. 

We work collaboratively with suppliers to mitigate the risk of modern slavery and are committed to supporting those that identify areas for improvement. 

All of our contractual documentation ensures that suppliers entering into any new contracts agree to comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and confirm they already pay the real living wage or have a plan in place to do so.

Our standard supplier contract terms also require our suppliers to maintain a set of records to trace the supply chain of all goods and services provided to Anchor and to provide us with a report on request of the steps they have taken to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in any of its supply chains.

As part of our procurement processes all potential new suppliers bidding on our contracts are required to provide us with a copy of their Ethics Policy and their Health and Safety Policy at tender stage which are reviewed to ensure they meet Anchor’s standards. Where applicable, new suppliers are also required to provide us with a copy of their own Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement as part of the tender process.

Staff training

We reviewed the training on modern slavery available to colleagues during 2023. As a result of this we have taken action to enhance the training available on modern slavery for colleagues and we ran a “lunch and learn” session on the topic for Board and Senior Leadership Team members in November 2023. The majority of colleagues in our Procurement team are CIPS qualified or studying towards a CIPS qualification which includes specific modules on modern slavery as a key part of the syllabus.  

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 31 March 2024 for Anchor Hanover Group and its subsidiaries.

Approved by Anchor Hanover Group’s Board on 24 September 2024.

Signed

Christopher Kemball
Chairman

This statement will be reviewed and updated on an annual basis and has been approved by Anchor Hanover Group’s Board. Anchor Hanover Group trades as Anchor and this statement applies to all companies and organisations within the Group.