Merco Modern Slavery Policy

Merco Medical Staffing is committed to eliminating modern slavery, human trafficking, forced labour, and similar human rights abuses.  

Merco Medical Staffing is committed to ensuring that its staff and any workers it supplies (directly or indirectly) are not subject to behaviour or threats that may amount to modern slavery, human trafficking, forced labour, and similar human rights abuses.  

Merco Medical Staffing provides appropriate training and awareness information for all of its staff.  

In particular: 

• All of our staff receive awareness-raising information around issues involving modern slavery and human trafficking so that they can bring any concerns they have to the attention of management.

• Minimum wages, and ensuring the payment of minimum wage at all times to all workers.

1. Any staff, workers or other parties are strongly encouraged to report any concerns or suspicions that they might have to the Senior Management team. 

2. Reports surrounding these issues are taken extremely seriously by senior leadership team, who are committed to ensuring that all investigations shall be prompt and effective. If our investigations reveal any issues, we are committed to taking appropriate action, including but not limited to:

• Working with the appropriate organisations to improve standards,

• Passing details to appropriate law enforcement bodies.

3. We regularly monitor our risks in this area through the use of relevant key performance indicators, including:

• The amount of time spent on audits, re-audits, spot checks, and related due diligence, and

• The level of modern slavery training and awareness amongst our staff.

4. As part of our efforts in this area, we publish a modern slavery statement on an annual basis. 

5. We would also recommend reading this in conjunction with our other policies, including our:

• Corporate social responsibility policy,

• Ethical procurement policy,

• Anti-bribery / corruption policy, and

• Whistle-blowing policy.

This policy was adopted in September 2019 after being agreed by our board of directors. It is reviewed annually.

Modern Slavery Statement

This statement is made as part of Merco Medical Staffing’s commitment to eliminating the exploitation of people under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the Act). It summarises how Merco operates, the policies and processes in place to minimise the possibility of any problems, any risks we have identified and how we monitor them, and how we train our staff.  

This statement is published in accordance with section 54 of the Act, and relates to the financial year October 2019 to September 2020.  It was approved by the board of directors on September 2019.

Human Resources Business Partner

1 Our Business

Merco Medical Staffing is a limited company operating in the recruitment sector. We provide introduction services, supply temporary workers, and act as a neutral vendor between candidates and clients that we provide in this sectors.

Merco Medical Staffing is an independent business.  

Who we work with

All of the hirers that we work with, and all of the work-seekers we provide, are known to and identified by our staff. All of the temporary workers we supply are identified by our staff. Some of these work-seekers operate through their own limited companies.

The hiring companies that we work with are located in the UK. The work-seekers we supply live are residents and have permission to work in the UK. 

1.1 Other relationships

As part of our business, we also work with the following organisations:

• NHS

• Private Medical Service providers

• The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (www.rec.uk.com)

2 Our Policies

Merco Medical Staffing has a modern slavery policy In addition, Merco Medical Staffing has the following policies which incorporate ethical standards for our staff and our suppliers.

• Corporate social responsibility policy ,

• Ethical procurement policy,

• Anti-bribery / corruption policy, and

• Whistle-blowing policy.

2.1 Policy development and review

Merco Medical Staffing’s policies are established by our senior leadership team, based on advice from HR professionals, industry best practice and legal advice. We review our policies on a regular basis or as needed to adapt to changes.  

3 Our Processes for Managing Risk

In order to assess the risk of modern slavery, we use the following processes with our suppliers:

• We conduct audits before entering into a commercial relationship with any business where there is the potential for risk. These audited businesses form the basis of our preferred supplier list.

After due consideration, we have not identified any significant risks of modern slavery, forced labour, or human trafficking in our supply chain. However, we continue to be alert to the potential for problems.  

Additionally, we have taken the following steps to minimise the possibility of any problems:

• We reserve the right to conduct spot-checks of the businesses who supply us, in order to investigate any complaints.

• We require the businesses we work with to abide by our code of supplier conduct

We collaborate with our suppliers in order to improve standards and transparency across our supply chain.

• Only senior members of staff who have undergone appropriate training for assessing modern slavery risks in the supply chain are authorised to sign contracts and establish commercial relationships in any area where we have identified the potential for risk.

• We ensure that all of our suppliers are members of appropriate industry bodies and working groups.

• We review the procurement of products and services to ensure we are avoiding risk of supply chains including high risk countries where modern forms of slavery are prevalent.

Our staff are encouraged to bring any concerns they have to the attention of management.

4 Our Performance

As part of monitoring the performance of Merco Medical Staffing, we track the following general key performance indicators: 

• The level of training amongst staff, 

• The speed with which you investigate related complaints, and the effectiveness of any whistle-blowing procedures, and/or

• The level of compliance and transparency you have established in your supply chain.  

Based on the potential risks we have identified, we have also established the following key performance indicators, which are regularly assessed by our senior leadership team:

• the percentage of candidates] supplied from audited businesses / our preferred supplier list

• the effectiveness of enforcement against suppliers who breach policies

• the amount of time spent on audits, re-audits, spot checks, and related due diligence

• the level of modern slavery training and awareness amongst our staff

We benchmark our indicators against industry best-practice, in order to ensure that we do not put undue pressure on our suppliers that might increase the potential for risk.

5 Our Training

All of our staff receive training and support that is appropriate to their role. In particular:

• Our leadership team receive detailed training in identifying and resolving concerns around modern slavery and human trafficking.

• Our recruiters, HR personnel, and staff involved in our procurement and supply chains] undertake training courses that include guidance around modern slavery and human trafficking, as well as other wider human rights issues.

• All of our staff receive awareness-raising information around issues involving modern slavery and human trafficking, so that they can bring any concerns they have to the attention of management.

As part of this, our staff are encouraged to discuss any concerns that they have with Senior Management Training is refreshed regularly. Training Contents can be found in our Internal HR Software.