Modern Day Slavery

Statement

This statement is made pursuant to Section 54, Part 6 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and sets out the steps Essex Cares Limited (ECL) has taken.

ECL recognises its responsibility to take a robust approach to modern slavery and human trafficking. Modern slavery is a heinous and often hidden crime, and the impact can be devastating for the victims.

ECL have taken preventative measure to prevent modern slavery in our business and supply chains. Any identified concern regarding to modern slavery and human tracking would be escalated as part of our company’s safeguarding process working in conjunction with other Local Authority agencies.

Company overview

Essex Cares Ltd (ECL) was established in 2009 as a Local Authority Trading Company (LATC) wholly owned by Essex County Council (ECC).  ECL is a trusted provider working with Local Authorities and Health Partners to deliver services aimed at wellbeing and maximising independence.

ECL is committed to providing efficient, effective, and high-quality service to all customers whilst also ensuring these services represent value for money.  Support is provided to vulnerable adults in a range of community and home-based services across Essex, London Borough of Havering and West Sussex.

Policies, training and Systems

As a provider of social care services, we recognise our responsibility to identify any customers who may be a victim of modern slavery or human tracking. To support this, ECL has a series of policies and processes to prevent modern slavery and human trafficking, which include:

All new employees are subject to pre-employment checks as defined within both regulated services such as Care Quality Commission and best practice.  This includes checking employees UK address, right to work in the UK and suitable references and any gaps in employment and Disclosure and Barring (DBS) checks for relevant roles.

ECL has a suite of policies in place in support of our statement, which include which include.

• whistleblowing policy and guidance,
• dedicated modern day slavery guidance,
• safeguarding adults’ policy, which identifies and defines modern slavery and how the company will react and deal with any identified safeguard concern.
• code of conduct, and
• a robust recruitment policy, including conducting eligibility to work in the UK checks for all employees to safeguard.

All our employees across the company are required to complete mandatory safeguarding training annually regardless of their role within the company, which includes modern slavery.

We have a dedicated Safeguarding Lead who supports management and employees within the company.

Performance indicators

We will know the effectiveness of the steps that we are taking to ensure that slavery is not taking place within our business or supply chain if no reports are received from employees, the public, or law enforcement agencies or local safeguarding teams to indicate that modern slavery practices have been identified.  We monitor all safeguards that are raised by ECL or against ECL, in the year reported (23/24) there have been no reported incidents of concerns to modern slavery practices.