WATES GROUP LIMITED modern slavery statement summary (2021)
Organisation address
Wates House,
Station Approach,
Leatherhead,
Surrey,
KT22 7SW
Station Approach,
Leatherhead,
Surrey,
KT22 7SW
We asked the organisation a series of questions about its modern slavery statement. Its answers are published on this page as a statement summary.
This statement provides information for all 6 recommended topics
What is a modern slavery statement?
UK law requires certain organisations to publish an annual modern slavery statement on their website, setting out the steps they are taking to address modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains.
Read more in the government guidance on publishing modern slavery statements.
Link to full statement
Go to full modern slavery statement on organisation’s website
PDF version of the statement (optional)
There is no PDF version of this statement.
PDF statements were first introduced to the registry for the 2023 statement year.
About this statement summary
All answers relate to the financial year covered by the statement. The organisation is responsible for all the information it provided. Some of our questions are optional, so organisations may not have answered all of them. The statement summary does not replace the full modern slavery statement – below we provide a link to the full statement on the organisation’s website.
Contents
- Organisations covered by the statement
- Legal requirement to publish
- Statement period and sign-off details
- Recommended topics covered by the statement
- The organisation’s sectors and turnover
- Number of years producing statements
- Policies
- Training
- Monitoring working conditions
- Modern slavery risks
- Finding indicators of modern slavery
- Demonstrating progress
Organisations covered by the statement
WATES GROUP LIMITED modern slavery statement for 2021 is a group statement covering 5 organisations. See the full list of organisations covered by this statement
Legal requirement to publish
WATES GROUP LIMITED has confirmed it is required to publish a 2021 statement by law.
Statement period and sign-off details
The statement covers the following period:
1 January 2020 to 31 December 2020
The statement was signed off by:
David Allen (Chief Executive)
It was approved by the board (or equivalent management body) on:
6 May 2021
Recommended topics covered by the statement
Government guidance encourages organisations to cover a range of topics in their modern slavery statements, setting out the steps they’re taking to address modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains. Read about the recommended topics in the statutory guidance.
We asked the organisation to tell us which topics its statement covers.
| Topics recommended by government guidance | Organisation’s response |
|---|---|
| The organisation’s structure, business and supply chains | Covered |
| Policies | Covered |
| Risk assessment | Covered |
| Due diligence (steps to address risk) | Covered |
| Training about modern slavery | Covered |
| Goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of the organisation's actions and progress over time | Covered |
The organisation’s sectors and turnover
Sectors
The organisation operates in the following sectors:
- Construction, civil engineering and building products
Turnover
Its turnover in the financial accounting year of this statement was:
Over £500 million
If the organisation is a public body, this amount is based on the organisation’s budget for the year of the statement.
What does 'turnover' refer to in group statements?
If this is a group statement, this includes the total turnover for all the organisations covered by the statement.
Number of years producing statements
The organisation has been producing modern slavery statements for the following number of years:
More than 5 years
How does this work for group statements?
If the statement is for a group of organisations, this answer applies to the organisation with the longest history of producing statements.
Policies (optional)
We asked the organisation whether its policies include the following provisions in relation to its domestic and international supply chains, as well as its own operations.
| Policy provisions we asked about | Organisation’s response |
|---|---|
| Freedom of workers to terminate employment | Included |
| Freedom of movement | Included |
| Freedom of association | Included |
| Prohibits any threat of violence, harassment and intimidation | Included |
| Prohibits the use of worker-paid recruitment fees | Included |
| Prohibits compulsory overtime | Included |
| Prohibits child labour | Included |
| Prohibits discrimination | Included |
| Prohibits confiscation of workers' original identification documents | Included |
| Provides access to remedy, compensation and justice for victims of modern slavery | Not included |
| Other |
Not included
|
Training (optional)
We asked the organisation whether it provided training on modern slavery, and who it was for.
What counts as training?
We explained that by ‘training’ we meant anything designed to increase knowledge and skills around identifying, addressing or preventing modern slavery risks.
This could range from formal training courses to broader awareness-raising activities such as workshops or webinars.
| We asked who the training was for | Organisation’s response |
|---|---|
| Your whole organisation | Yes |
| Your front line staff | Yes |
| Human resources | Yes |
| Executive-level staff | Yes |
| Procurement staff | Yes |
| Your suppliers | Yes |
| The wider community | No |
| Other |
No
|
Monitoring working conditions (optional)
Engaging with others
We asked the organisation to tell us who it engaged with to help monitor working conditions across its operations and supply chains.
| We asked who the organisation engaged with | Organisation’s response |
|---|---|
| Your suppliers | Yes |
| Trade unions or worker representative groups | No |
| Civil society organisations | No |
| Professional auditors | Yes |
| Workers within your organisation | No |
| Workers within your supply chain | No |
| Central or local government | No |
| Law enforcement, such as police, GLAA and other local labour market inspectorates | No |
| Businesses in your industry or sector | No |
Social audits
We asked the organisation to tell us about any social audits it used to look for signs of modern slavery.
What are social audits?
A social audit is a review of an organisation’s working practices from the point of view of social responsibility, and should include an evaluation of working conditions in the organisation’s operations and supply chains.
By their nature, audits of supplier workplaces represent a snapshot in time.
Organisation’s response
The organisation told us it did not carry out any social audits during the period of the statement.
Grievance mechanisms
We asked the organisation how workers in its operations or supply chains could raise concerns or make complaints.
| We asked if workers could raise concerns this way | Organisation’s response |
|---|---|
| Using anonymous whistleblowing services, such as a helpline or mobile phone app | Yes |
| Through trade unions or other worker representative groups | No |
Other ways of monitoring working conditions
We asked the organisation whether it had any other ways of monitoring working conditions across its operations and supply chains:
Organisation’s response
The organisation did not answer this question.
Modern slavery risks (optional)
Warning
Identifying modern slavery risks is a vital step towards eradicating it.
The government encourages organisations to be as open and transparent as possible, to improve understanding, collaboration and best practice around tackling this worldwide problem.
We asked the organisation to describe up to 3 priority risks it focused on during the period of the statement, including details of the affected workers, the activity involved, and the location.
Priority risks for this organisation (1 of 3)
Complex supply chains with multiple tiers mean that the risk of forced labour is highest in lower tiers where Wates has less visibility.
| Questions we asked about this risk | Organisation’s response |
|---|---|
| Where it was most likely to occur |
Organisation’s response:
Within your supply chains.
|
| Who was it most likely to affect |
Organisation’s response:
|
| In which country | Organisation’s response: United Kingdom |
| Actions or plans to address this risk | Organisation’s response: Wates focused on this in its supply chain mapping and its engagement with its supply chains in 2020, including by increasing our activities relating to training and capacity building to mitigate the risk of supply chain operatives on our sites becoming victims of modern slavery. |
Priority risks for this organisation (2 of 3)
Risk of indirect procurement of materials for our projects which are at higher risk of being produced by child labour or forced labour.
| Questions we asked about this risk | Organisation’s response |
|---|---|
| Where it was most likely to occur |
Organisation’s response:
Within your supply chains.
|
| Who was it most likely to affect |
Organisation’s response:
|
| In which country |
Organisation’s response:
|
| Actions or plans to address this risk | Organisation’s response: Further to the supply chain mapping that was carried out in 2019, Wates continued to progress its supply chain mapping to its top 10 Strategic wholesalers and suppliers, identifying lower-tier sourcing from the above countries. We are working with our supply chains to ensure that appropriate investigations of these higher risk areas are carried out. |
Priority risks for this organisation (3 of 3)
The ILO 'Global Estimates of Modern Slavery' places the construction sector as the second-highest risk sector for forced labour.
| Questions we asked about this risk | Organisation’s response |
|---|---|
| Where it was most likely to occur |
Organisation’s response:
Within your supply chains.
|
| Who was it most likely to affect |
Organisation’s response:
|
| In which country | Organisation’s response: United Kingdom |
| Actions or plans to address this risk | Organisation’s response: In 2021, Wates will be carrying out an on-site assurance audit programme using worker engagement surveys and subcontractor labour practice audits at selected worksites. |
Indicators of forced labour (optional)
We asked the organisation whether its statement refers to finding any International Labour Organization (ILO) indicators of forced labour.
What are ILO indicators of forced labour?
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has produced a list of the most common signs of forced labour.
They’re based on the definition of forced labour as ‘all work or service which is extracted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.’
More details and guidance are available on the ILO website, and in their publication ILO indicators of forced labour
Organisation’s response
The organisation told us its statement does not refer to finding any International Labour Organization (ILO) indicators of forced labour.
Demonstrating progress (optional)
We asked the organisation how its statement demonstrates progress over time in addressing modern slavery risks.
They provided the following answer:
In 2020, Wates became a signatory to the GLAA and introduced its Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Standard setting out the minimum labour standards that we require from all members of our supply chain. Wates set itself the challenge of achieving 5 KPI's in 2020. However, due to the impact of Covid-19 it achieved 3 of these KPI's in 2020. Accordingly, we have reprogrammed the remaining 2 KPI's along with 2 new KPI's for 2021.