Modern Slavery Statement

Modern slavery is a an inhumane violation and a morally inexcusable act that deprives one person of their rights, liberty, dignity and freedom for another person’s gain. Today it affects millions of people around the world, including those in both developing and developed countries, who are being exploited in various forms of slavery. We recognise that every company, no matter the industry, is at risk of being involved in modern slavery through its own operations and its supply chain. The economic instability caused by the COVID global pandemic and various geopolitical events have potentially put more people at risk of being preyed upon by traffickers and as a result has reinforced our desire to do everything we can do to eradicate the risk of modern slavery in our business and communities.

This statement sets out the actions that we have taken to map the risks of modern slavery within our supply chain, and to implement steps to prevent slavery during the financial year 2022/23. At Studio Republic, we have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and are publishing this statement to demonstrate transparency to our clients, employees and the public.

Our business and supply chains

Our objective as a business is to empower causes with the means to directly impact lives through our brand, design and development delivery. We work with charities, not for profit organisations, educational institutions and the purpose driven organisations to make meaningful impact.

We have handcrafted a very small number of suppliers based on a a rigorous process of investigation, research, trust, experience and integrity factors. We have not been made aware of any allegations of human trafficking/slavery activities against any of our suppliers, but if we were, we would act immediately to report the allegation to the authorities.

We are collecting data on whether they have published a modern slavery statement and whether they operate in any high-risk countries or industries as described by the Global Slavery Index.

Risk assessment

Over the past year, we conducted a risk assessment of the capacity of Studio Republic to manage and prevent the risks of modern slavery based on the UK Government’s Modern Slavery Assessment Tool (MSAT) framework.

As part of the assessment, we mapped of our supply chain by taking into account the business services rendered by the suppliers and the presence of vulnerable demographic groups

Policies

Studio Republic operates the following policies for identifying and preventing slavery and human trafficking in our operations:

  • Whistleblower Policy – we encourage all employees, customers and suppliers to report any suspicion of slavery or human trafficking without fear of retaliation. We provide an escalation contact internally as well as an external confidential consultant to protect the identity of whistle-blowers
  • ESG Policy – Our ESG policy clearly states the actions and behaviours expected of employees  when representing the business. We strive to maintain the highest standards of employee conduct and ethical behaviour throughout our operations, including management of our supply chain

Awareness/ training

Studio Republic has raised awareness of modern slavery issues by running a training session with the entire team to explain practical steps for how employees should report suspicions of modern slavery

In addition to the awareness programme, Studio republic has included a section on modern slavery in the onboarding materials for all of our new employees which covers;

  • the various forms of modern slavery in which people can be held and exploited
  • the size of the problem and the risk to our organisation
  • how employees can identify the signs of slavery and human trafficking, including unrealistically low prices for goods or services
  • how employees should respond and what action they should take if they suspect slavery or human trafficking

Measuring our performance

Studio Republic has defined two key performance indicators and controls to combat modern slavery and human trafficking in our organisation and supply chain. These are;

  • the number of employees who have received mandatory training
  • the findings of the annual supply chain risk assessment

This statement covers 1st October 2022 to 31 September 2023 and has been approved by the board of Studio Republic on 1 November 2022.

Chris Todhunter – Founder (1/11/22)

Jack De Wolf – Managing Director (1/11/22)