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Modern Slavery Act

Modern Slavery Act


Date - 20th September 2021


Introduction from our Chief Executive

At Everest we are committed to improving our practices to combat slavery and human trafficking. We recognise that slavery and human trafficking is a real yet hidden issue in our society. We will not tolerate slavery and human trafficking in our business or supply chain. We are committed to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business dealings and relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure that any form of slavery is not taking place in our own business or supply chains.


Our business

Everest are in the home improvements market with around 1,000 employees and self-employed associates. Our Head Office is in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.


It's true to say that the brand has had an exciting life riding the post-war building boom, but at the heart of this has always been a drive to create market-leading products.


Everest operates from a number of locations: we still produce customer products from two dedicated UK manufacturing plants in Sittingbourne, Kent and Treherbert, Wales; our Customer Service Centre is in Ayr and we have various installations branches throughout the UK.


Our sales teams are made up of self-employed agents, some of whom have worked with the company for over 40 years. Our Chief Sales & Marketing Director has been with the organisation over 20 years, working his way up through the ranks. Our head office and installation teams are also made up of long-term serving staff who all carry their knowledge of the double-glazing business forward, intending to carry on the vision of our founder to 'fit the best'.


Our policies on slavery and human trafficking

We have a zero-tolerance approach to slavery and human trafficking. All employees and associates undergo training on how to identify the signs of slavery and human trafficking as part of their induction program which also signposts how to report suspected cases of slavery and human trafficking.


We operate a Whistleblowing policy which is also included in induction training and issued annually as refresher training.


We encourage all our employees, associates, workers, customers and other business partners to report any concerns related to direct activities, or the supply chains of, our organisation. This includes any circumstances that may give rise to an enhanced risk of slavery or human trafficking. Our whistleblowing procedure is designed to make it easy for workers to make disclosures, without fear of reprisal and is on our website for ease of access for all parties.


Due diligence processes for slavery and human trafficking

As part of our commitment to identify and mitigate the risks of slavery and human trafficking in our business, we have conducted due diligence checks within our operating procedures. Going forward, these will enable us to:

  • Carry out risk-based due diligence on our suppliers before we enter a trading relationship with them.
  • Identify and assess potential risk areas in our existing supply chain, including those posed directly by our suppliers.
  • Mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our supply chains.
  • Monitor potential risk areas in our supply chains.
  • Promote and protect whistleblowers.

Supplier adherence to our ethics

To ensure all those in our supply chain comply with our ethics, we take great effort to ensure our suppliers are aware of our expectations. We achieve this through actively communicating with our suppliers throughout all stages of our relationship with them, setting the right tone and culture within our organization and with third parties including suppliers, and ensuring that we have a robust policies and processes in place that are inclusive of the requirement to carry out appropriate risk based due diligence on our suppliers.


We have a zero-tolerance approach to slavery and human trafficking within our business. Where we identify that a supplier or another party within our supply chain has not met the high standards we set, we will require them to rectify the matter immediately. Should they fail to do this we cease our dealings with them.


Training

To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains and our business, we will be providing training to our employees and associates annually and at the point of induction, which will ensure they know where to find our modern slavery statement and policy.


As part of this training we will ensure our employees and associates know who they should speak to if they have a concern. We also enable employees and associates to report their concerns confidentially.


Whistleblowers

We encourage whistleblowers from wherever they originate, whether this is internally or externally, and are committed to protecting them and their identity.


Taking robust action

Where we identify a need to act, we will do so decisively and swiftly.


Paula Chambers
Chief Executive Officer
Everest 2020 Ltd