Introduction

We strive to be a great place to work for Data Connect Group people. We want our employees to be fully engaged with our Company and motivated to give their all and we want their contribution to be recognised and rewarded.

We will therefore not tolerate forced, bonded or compulsory labour, human trafficking and other kinds of slavery within our own operations or within our supply chain and are committed to taking appropriate steps to ensure that everyone who works for Data Connect Group – in any capacity­ benefits from a working environment in which their fundamental rights and freedoms are respected.

Our approach to preventing modern slavery forms part of our wider corporate responsibilities. As Director of Data Connect Group, I am responsible for oversight of Data Connect’s corporate responsibilities. We adopt procedures that contribute to ensuring modern slavery does not occur in our business or supply chains and we expect organisations with whom we do business to adopt and enforce policies to comply with the legislation.

Our structure and supply chains 

Data Connect Group is a company incorporated in the UK. Our customers are predominantly located in the UK.

We provide corporate and public sector organisations with software licensing, workplace technology, networking and security, and cloud and datacentre. We do develop bespoke applications and can specialise in any industry-specific vertical application but can also partner with third party organisations for these requirements.

All of our employees work in the UK or Ireland. We partner with more than 20 different hardware and software vendors to bring the latest and broadest range of technology to our customers, as well as numerous specialist service providers to augment the services provided by our in-house teams.

Our business comes from the small to medium-sized business segment and public sector customers. We also serve large enterprise customers and the corporate mid-market.

Our procedures 

Given the nature and locations of our business, we consider ourselves to be at low risk of the potential for slavery or trafficking. Furthermore, our revenues are predominantly derived from countries deemed low risk by conventional sustainability indices, such as The Global Slavery Index (www.walkfree.org/global-slavery-index/). We also believe that Data Connect Group’s business model and strategy is unlikely to create material risks of slavery and trafficking.

We have a number of procedures in place which we consider to be appropriate to our business and effective in preventing modern slavery from occurring in our business or supply chains.

Employment 

  • We treat our employees in a fair, lawful and professional manner and provide for fair working conditions, including health and safety, holiday entitlements and benefits.
  • Robust recruitment processes are taken in line with employment laws, including: ‘right to work’ document checks; contracts of employment and checks to ensure everyone employed is 16 and above. We also make sure our people are aware of their contractual and statutory employment
  • Market-related pay and rewards are reviewed

Transparency in our supply chains 

As part of our initiative to identify and to mitigate risk:

  • We have sought confirmation by our top suppliers (who work for us providing products and/or services for our own business use), in terms of spend, of their compliance with the Act.
  • We operate a Supplier Code of Conduct, used for all new major suppliers or in re-tendering, which addresses the labour rights issues associated with modern slavery and sets out the values and standards we expect of our suppliers. We have included a declaration to confirm support of the Code or where they have their own codes in place, sought confirmation they are complying with the same standards that we adhere to.

Supporting our people 

  • Our Additional Policies and Procedures document requires all of us to act ethically and we expect employees to comply with legal requirements at all times, putting our values into practice in everything we do.
  • We have a dedicated point of contact with the business to enable anyone who has concerns (for example, how suppliers, customers, partners or employees behave) to raise their concerns.

Further steps

We plan to implement the following in 2024 to further guard against the risk of modern slavery and trafficking:

  • Additional training within the Procurement function
  • A review of our Supplier Code of Conduct, to ensure provisions against the risk of modern slavery remain in line with good practice
  • Complete a review of the disclosures made by certain key hardware suppliers to ensure that their products to not contain ‘conflict minerals’. The production of conflict minerals is often associated with poor human rights and unacceptable labour practices.

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 31st March 2023. It was approved by the Data Connect Group Board with effect from 31st August 2023 and signed on its behalf by:

Lois Kean, Operations Director

31st August 2023