Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement

Introduction:

This statement addresses the period of 1st January 2024- 31st December 2024 and is published in line with section 54(1) Modern Slavery Act 2015.

Modern slavery is a serious crime where individuals human rights are infringed. This crime takes many forms including but not limited to slavery, human trafficking, servitude and forced labour. In its essence, modern slavery involves an individual being exploited through threats, violence, coercion, deception and abuse of power.

Who are we:

Dunster House is a family run business with over 30 years’ experience of designing, manufacturing and retailing garden lifestyle products. We are unique within the marketplace as all our design concepts are created in the UK before being manufactured in one of 14 sister factories overseas and 4 UK based factories to then be delivered out of our 8 distribution branches. This enables complete control over every production process, from purchasing timber to final distribution to the customer. This control over our distribution allows us to ensure Dunster House Ltd does not associate itself with any persons and/or entities known to be involved in any form of modern slavery.

Our commitment to the principles of the Modern Slavery Act 2015

Dunster House Ltd is committed to ensure that all workers are treated with respect and dignity ensuring we act ethically in all our business dealings and relationships. To act with integrity by implementing and enforcing systems and controls to safeguard our employees against any form of modern slavery. Measures we have taken to identify and mitigate risks of modern slavery include:

• Transparency in our business practices and ensuring our methods of tackling modern slavery are consistent with the Modern Slavery Act of 2015.
• Company processes that include specific prohibition against the use of forced, trafficked labour, slavery and servitude.
• Ensuring all employees have access to this statement following the guidance outlined in the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and other relevant policies.
• Managing our supply chain to ensure each stage of our products development is in line with our modern anti-slavery policy.

Our supply chain

In accessing our own processes effectiveness against modern slavery we’ve found Dunster House Ltd to be low risk. Due to the size of our company and the nature of our job roles we access ourselves to be at low risk of modern slavery. As the majority of the goods and services we procure are sourced from third party sister companies we can implement our modern anti-slavery policies at every stage of our products production. On the rare occasion we procure goods from overseas contractors we are committed to ensure our modern anti-slavery policies are shared with all our business relationships.

Our policies in relation to Modern Slavery Act 2015

In the spirit of ensuring all our employees are aware of our policies on Modern Slavery, all our policies on this topic are available to our employees on our Dunster Wiki page, through their manager and the HR department. Our policies on this topic are included below:

• Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy – HS 04 Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking – DunsterWiki
• Bullying and Harassment Policy – Bullying and Harassment Policy – DunsterWiki
• Abusive and Threatening Behaviour Policy -Abusive and Threatening Behavior Policy – DunsterWiki
• Whistle-Blowing Policy – Whistleblowing Policy – DunsterWiki
• Anti-Bribery Policy – Anti-Bribery Policy – DunsterWiki

Embedding our Policies

At Dunster House Ltd we recognise the importance of embedding our policies into our company culture. We will continue to embed our principles through:

• Ensuring all existing and future employees have access to this statement and our other modern anti-slavery policies.
• Maintaining our current modern anti-slavery processes and expanding it where needed to fulfil our responsibilities under the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

Over the next year we will continue to develop and strengthen our action against Modern Slavery to mitigate risk within our business. Some of the steps we are taking include:

1. Developing current and future employees awareness of our Modern Slavery policies through our induction process to ensure they take appropriate action if they suspect any risk of Modern Slavery.
2. Continuing our annual training record renewal process for all current employees.
3. Following our due diligence processes for both our business and our supply chain.
4. Ensuring employees involved in procurement activity are aware and follow the Modern Slavery Procurement Guidance on the GOV.UK website.