Thwaites
Modern Slavery Act 2015
Thwaites Ltd – Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement
This statement is published in accordance with Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. It sets out the steps Thwaites have taken to ensure that our business as well as our supply chains are free from slavery and human trafficking during the financial year ending 31st August 2023.
Thwaites
Thwaites is a privately-owned company and is the leading manufacturer of compact dumper trucks for the construction industry. It is a single site operation based in Warwickshire, UK and employs 250 people.
Modern slavery is a term used to encompass slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour, bonded and child labour and human trafficking. Victims are coerced, deceived and forced against their will into providing work or services. Human trafficking is where a person arranges or facilitates the travel of another person with a view to that person being exploited whether they consent to such travel or not. Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights.
Thwaites has a zero-tolerance policy towards any breach of human rights, including modern slavery and human trafficking.
Thwaites Supply Chain
Within Thwaites core operations, the procurement of engineering materials and high specification componentry is a significant part of our process. As such, these materials are sourced from suppliers in Western Europe and member states of The European Union. Thwaites does not deal in countries or commodities identified as “high risk”. Thwaites is a vertically integrated manufacturing company with very limited sub-contract activities related to its processes. Any subcontract work is undertaken in the UK.
Thwaites Due Diligence Processes
Via a supplier code of conduct which is included with the Thwaites Supplier questionnaire, suppliers are evaluated across quality, cost and risk.
Thwaites Employee Policies
Thwaites undertakes “right to work” checks on all permanent employees prior to them commencing their roles with us. This includes checking, where applicable, that the employee has a valid work visa and is of an appropriate age to work.
We also operate a Whistleblowing Policy which encourages individuals to report wrongdoing which extends to human rights.
Thwaites works in partnership with Unite, which is the recognised Trade Union, to ensure agreed and reasonable pay deals for its staff.
When recruiting both temporary and permanent employees we only use specified, reputable employment agencies to source labour and always verify the practices of any new agency before accepting workers from them.
Future Action
- Send out Supplier Questionnaire and Code of Conduct to supply base and monitor response.
- Continue to monitor and assess potential risk areas in our supply chain using supplier location and type of product or service.
This statement has been approved by the Board of Directors who will review and update it annually.
Simon Hill
Managing Director
1st January 2023