Modern Slavery Statement

Modern Slavery Statement

Introduction

This document comprises the modern slavery statement of Horizon Care and Education Group (incorporating Horizon Care and Education Limited, Horizon Education (South London) Limited, and Horizon Supported Accommodation Limited, and collectively referred to as “Horizon”).  We are not legally obliged to publish a modern slavery statement but have elected to do so voluntarily to demonstrate the steps we are taking to prevent modern slavery in our business and supply chains.

Modern slavery, which is the term used throughout this statement, encompasses slavery, servitude, forced labour and human trafficking, which are defined as follows:

• slavery – where one person exercises ownership over another;
• servitude – where a person is coerced into providing services and is unable to effect a change in their circumstances;
• forced labour – where a person is forced to work or provide a service, fearing reprisal if they do not comply; and
• human trafficking – where a person arranges or facilitates the travel of another person with the knowledge or intention to exploit that person.

Horizon’s position on modern slavery

At Horizon, we have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery in our business activities and supply chains.  We are committed to acting ethically, and with integrity and transparency in all business dealings and to continuously reviewing the systems and processes that we have in place to safeguard against any form of modern slavery.

As a provider of specialised education and psychologically-informed residential care, support and education to children and young people in schools, residential homes and supported accommodation, we implement stringent recruitment and onboarding checks for our workforce.  We are also very careful to ensure that we select reputable suppliers of goods and services.  For these reasons, we assess our modern slavery risk as being ‘low’ and this is reflected in the fact that we have not found any indicators or instances of modern slavery in our business or supply chains to date.

Responsibilities

The Horizon Board, with the support of the Senior Executive Team and the Horizon Leadership Team, is accountable for ensuring that Horizon takes all reasonable steps to prevent modern slavery throughout its operations.  Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Recruitment Team, Recruiting Managers and People Team – responsible for ensuring that all pre-employment checks are undertaken, satisfactory and held on file (including, but not limited to, Right to Work and Disclosure and Barring Service (“DBS”) checks);
• Quality, Risk and Operational Excellence Team – responsible for seeking assurance that processes are followed, and for reporting areas of weakness to senior leaders;
• Learning and Development Team – responsible for making learning resources for modern slavery available to team members, and for reporting training compliance levels to senior leaders; and
• Finance Team – responsible for implementing sound financial processes.

Protecting our colleagues and young people

Policies

We are committed to achieving and maintaining high standards of professional and ethical conduct amongst all colleagues.  Our expectations are made clear through policies including, but not limited to, the Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy, the Bullying and Harassment Policy, the Equality and Diversity Policy and the Disciplinary Policy.

Pre-employment checks

As a provider of services to children, our pre-employment and onboarding checks are particularly rigorous.  These include comprehensive checks of an applicant’s right to work in the UK and suitability to work with children (subject to the nature of the role and in line with Government guidance).  For our operational teams, employment checks form a key part of Ofsted’s inspection regime, providing external scrutiny of the adequacy of these checks.

Use of agencies

Every agency supplying workers to Horizon is mandated to complete an agency worker checklist.  The checklist requires the agency to confirm the candidate’s full name, to provide assurance that right to work and identification checks have been completed, and that employment history and references are available (with any gaps in employment explained).  The checklist also requests assurances that the relevant DBS check and professional registration checks have been completed in accordance with the nature of the role.

Raising confidential concerns

We operate a Whistleblowing Policy (and associated awareness materials), which provides our colleagues with information about the process for raising concerns in confidence.  This includes reference to an independent whistleblowing service, SafeCall, for those who do not feel able to raise their concerns with us directly.  In the coming year (2023/24), we plan to launch a campaign to reinforce the principles of the Whistleblowing Policy and to ensure that all colleagues understand that they have a professional responsibility to raise anything of concern.

Training

All colleagues are required to complete an e-learning module entitled “Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking” to raise colleague awareness of modern slavery and to help them recognise their role in identifying and reporting concerns.  We are launching new Learning Management Software (“LMS”) in 2023 to facilitate better reporting of learning compliance.

Supply chains

Horizon only selects reputable suppliers, and contracts are used to drive compliance in keys areas. Where suppliers fail to act in accordance with Horizon’s values or ethos we invoke sanctions, which in the most serious cases could include termination of the business relationship.  We are committed to continuously improving our approach to modern slavery and will continue to review and develop our supplier selection and onboarding processes to minimise risks in this area.

Executive approval

This statement has been approved by the Senior Executive Team, who will review and update it annually.

Amanda Cunningham
Chief Executive Officer
Horizon Care & Education Group

Last updated: October 2023