Anti-slavery and human trafficking policy

Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights: all forms of modern slavery including human trafficking have in common the deprivation of a person's liberty by another in order to exploit them for personal or commercial gain.

Epilepsy Society has a zero-tolerance approach  to modern slavery, which applies to all persons working for us or on our behalf in any capacity. We implement and enforce effective systems and controls to ensure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in Epilepsy Society or within any third parties we are associated with in any way. Epilepsy Society undertakes due diligence when considering new suppliers and regularly reviews its existing suppliers to ensure they have and implement appropriate Anti-slavery policies.

The management board at Epilepsy Society has overall responsibility for ensuring that this policy complies with our legal and ethical obligations and that all staff understand and comply with the policy. The prevention, detection and reporting of modern slavery in any part of our organisation is the responsibility of all those working for us or on behalf of us.

All those working for us or on behalf of us must raise any issues or suspicions with their manager or report it in accordance with our Whistleblowing policy as soon as possible at the earliest possible stage. We aim to encourage openness and support anyone who raises genuine concerns in good faith under this policy, even if they turn out to be mistaken, and are committed to ensuring that no one suffers any detrimental treatment as a result of reporting their suspicion in good faith.

Any employee who breaches the Anti-slavery and Human Trafficking policy will face disciplinary action which could result in dismissal for gross misconduct. We may terminate our relationship with other individuals and organisations working on our behalf if they breach this policy.