Modern Slavery
Introduction
This statement is made in accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and sets out the steps that Allsop LLP and its subsidiaries (“Allsop Group”) have undertaken to minimise the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking in our business and supply chain. The date of our financial year end is 31 March. This statement covers activities during the financial year 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.
Organisation structure
Established in 1906 Allsop LLP is an independent property consultancy with a people focused approach. Our colleagues share their expertise with a consistent, insightful service for our clients, many of whom work with us repeatedly.
We are the UK’s largest and most successful property auction house and also offer an extensive range of consultancy services for residential, commercial and mixed-use property.
Allsop has teams based in London and Leeds, giving us the people, the skills, the experience and the energy to maximise value for our clients in any given market.
Allsop Letting and Management (ALM) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Allsop LLP and was created in 1999 as a dedicated management service exclusively for the residential property investment sector. Over 100 property management staff work across London and Leeds offices, onsite at large scale developments and regionally as field-based Asset Managers.
Together, we do business in our own distinctive Allsop style – assured, friendly and honest. In an unpredictable world, Allsop remains a reassuringly constant source of intelligent market knowledge, insight and expertise.
Supply chains
The Allsop Group’s supplier profile is low risk for modern slavery and mainly comprises information technology services, professional services as well as office goods and services. As the suppliers we most frequently engage with are professional services firms based in the UK we remain confident that there is a low risk of modern slavery or other human rights violations. Nevertheless we maintain a risk-based approach and are committed to consistently reviewing and strengthening our processes.
In addition, ALM delivers a variety of property management solutions for Build to Rent (BTR) and single housing family assets typically acting institutions that have invested strategically in these sectors. Services include income and expenditure budgeting, mobilisation, scheme marketing, letting and management, facilities property and estate management, asset management and leasehold management. We engage with various contractors in the delivery of some of these services.
Policies in relation to slavery and human trafficking
In line with our values, we operate a number of internal policies to ensure we are conducting business in an ethical manner and make clear what standards are expected of our partners, directors and employees. Our internal policies are readily available to our partners and employees on our Intranet systems. In respect of modern slavery, the following policies help to support our compliance.
- Anti-Bribery and Corruption policy: This policy outlines how the Allsop Group chooses to conduct its business in an honest and ethical manner and sets out the responsibilities of Partners, Staff and Associated Persons in observing and upholding its position on anti-bribery and corruption as well as providing information on how to recognise and deal with these issues.
- Recruitment policy. We continue to operate a robust recruitment policy, including conducting eligibility to work in the UK checks for all employees, to safeguard against human trafficking or individuals being forced to work against their will.
- Raising Concerns & Whistleblowing policy: We operate this policy to ensure all partners, directors and employees know they can raise concerns about how colleagues are being treated or practices within our business or supply chains without fear of recrimination.
- Labour Standards policy: This policy outlines how the Allsop Group has established a comprehensive system of minimum labour standards to guide its business operations as well as those of its suppliers, and encourages all partners, directors and employees to raise concerns of modern slavery in its businesses or supply chains at the earliest possible stage.
In addition to these internal polices, as members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) we abide by the RICS Rules of Conduct Eff 2022 (Rule 4).
Due diligence processes
We are continuously improving our understanding of the risks of modern slavery. By increasing our knowledge, it is becoming easier to identify and mitigate risks of modern slavery in our supply chains.
This year ALM continued to expand their compliance team to increase the comprehensiveness of our contractor onboarding programme to mitigate against modern slavery and human trafficking risks.
ALM requires third party suppliers to complete a comprehensive pre-approval questionnaire before becoming an authorised contractor. As part of this process all contractors must supply their Safe Contractor certification. This accreditation includes modern slavery checks and is renewed annually by the accreditor and verified by our internal compliance team. In addition at each contractor’s annual renewal date Safe Contractor have written into the renewal process our condition that a statement is to be agreed to before accepting the renewal accreditation. By signing the statement the contractor agrees to adhere to the terms of the Modern Slavery Act and the Living Wage UK 2023. ALM also adheres to the RICS Tender Practice Guidance.
ALM has appointed a Head of Health and Safety to oversee contractor and supplier management, and this role is further supported by the introduction of new software systems which will add to the robustness of the on-boarding process.
We intend rolling out a similar programme within the remainder of the Allsop Group. As supply contracts come up for renewal we will assess the modern slavery risk and determine whether to request the supplier to complete a questionnaire.
Risk assessment and management
A corporate governance structure has been developed to combat the risks of modern slavery. Allsop LLP’s Risk Management Committee meets monthly to consider potential risks to the business including how to address and mitigate modern slavery and human trafficking challenges. This committee consists of senior management from across Allsop LLP and ALM and reports to the Allsop LLP Operations Board and ALM Board respectively, which in turn are accountable to Allsop Group’s Management Board. The Management Board has the ultimate oversight and responsibility for modern slavery compliance.
The Allsop Group recognises that ALM, our property management service engages with various contractors to provide services such as maintenance, cleaning and security. We believe that services typically relying on relatively low-paid labour are at greatest risk of exploitative practices, for example non-compliance with minimum wage requirements, excessive working hours, poor documentation and lack of normal employee benefits including preventing staff from taking sick or annual leave. In order to mitigate the risks particular to ALM we conduct additional due diligence on suppliers through completion and review of a pre-approval questionnaire and seek that they are a member of ‘Safe Contractor’. This is monitored by our compliance team who identify and manage potential issues.
Key performance indicators to measure effectiveness of steps being taken
The Allsop Group continues to develop key performance indicators to measure its success in tackling modern slavery.
A key metric is the completion of our modern slavery online training courses annually. At the time of writing 89% of Allsop LLP employees have undertaken the relevant courses and when allowing time for the training of new hires this approaches 100%.
At the time of writing, 147 of ALM’s contractors are Safe Contractor approved, of which 92 have provided agreement to adhere to the Modern Slavery Act.
Training on modern slavery and trafficking
Allsop Group requires each Partner and member of staff to read, understand and comply with this policy.
We believe that training and education is an essential tool helping combat modern slavery. In November 2020 Allsop LLP implemented mandatory online training courses on a range of social issues which includes competency tests to demonstrate understanding. The aim of the modern slavery e-learning module is to ensure partners and staff familiarise themselves with modern slavery issues which in turn will help enable them to identify situations that may cause concerns. Staff are required to report any concerns to their Line Manager. All new joiners are required to complete this training.
All internal policies and relevant material are available on our Intranet.
Approval
This statement was approved by the Management Board on 11 September 2023 and signed by Scott Tyler, Senior Partner, on 11 September 2023. This statement is reviewed and updated annually.