We try, wherever possible, to engage with organisations who operate in the way that we do. When entering into contracts, we endeavour to include appropriate and reasonable provisions which capture our expectations.
We therefore consider areas such as:
- Information security to ensure that the physical and digital information we hold is kept secure and confidentiall.
- Whether the supplier complies with relevant legislation such as that relating to modern slavery and anti-corruption.
- Whether the supplier operates their business in an inclusive way and has evidence of their strategy and approach, and whether they have signed up to any industry benchmarks such as the Social Mobility Foundation Employer Index or the Disability Confident scheme. As a Disability Confident Leader organisation, we can support the counterparty to learn about the range of disability support available and how they might achieve Disability Confident or other inclusive accreditations.
- Whether, like us, they are a signatory to a national fair wage scheme. The real living wage is important for providing a decent standard of living and improving social mobility: reports have shown that those from working class backgrounds are more likely to be paid below the voluntary living wage than those from more advantaged backgrounds.
- Their approach to sustainability. For example, do they have a carbon/biodiversity management plan or take a circular economy approach, and could we work together to reduce the firm’s environmental impact?