Modern slavery statement

Introduction

In 2015 new legislation was introduced entitled the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Modern slavery encompasses slavery, servitude, human trafficking and forced labour.

We are committed to acting ethically, with integrity and transparency in all business dealings and to continually improving our policies and practices in order to safeguard against any form of modern slavery taking place within the business or our supply chain.  We recognise that we have a responsibility to prevent modern slavery in all its forms, both in our business, and in our supply chains.  As part of the financial services sector, we recognise that we have a responsibility to take a robust approach to modern slavery and human trafficking.

Organisation's structure

We are part of AFH Financial Group Limited, registered in England (Companies House number: 07638831). We are an entirely UK based company. The Group has 470 staff including employed advisers and over 150 self-employed advisers based in offices across the UK.

For Financial Planning firms within the Group, business activities cover a wide range of financial products and services including financial advice across life and health protection, savings and investments, retirement planning, tax planning and mortgage advice.

For Wealth Management firms within the Group, business activities include the provision of portfolio management and stockbroking services.  

Our policies on slavery and human trafficking

Our Anti-slavery Policy reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place within our business or our supply chains.

We aim to provide a rewarding working environment in which people are valued and respected. Our policies and procedures aim to ensure that we create a safe and inclusive working environment for our staff, underpinned by our culture and values.

Our employee handbook outlines several policies aimed at employee wellbeing, including:

  • Equal Opportunities policies
  • Whistleblowing policy and procedures
  • Grievance policy and procedure

Our supply chains

As a Group, we buy a wide range of goods and services and engage with approximately 681 suppliers. Our supply chains include:

  • Providers of financial products
  • Recruitment agencies
  • Software providers
  • Office suppliers
  • Third party consultants

Supplier adherence to our values

We have zero tolerance to slavery and human trafficking. To ensure all those in our supply chain and contractors comply with our values, we will ensure their agreement to comply with our expectations at the outset of our relationship with them. We will then conduct regular follow up activity to ensure that suppliers continue to adhere to our values.

Due diligence processes for slavery and human trafficking

As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk, we undertake regular audit activity in order to:

  • Identify and assess potential risk areas in our supply chains
  • Mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our supply chains
  • Monitor potential risk areas in our supply chains.

The output of this activity will serve as a measure of our effectiveness in combating slavery and human trafficking.

Risk

The overall risk for the Group related to Modern Slavery Act compliance is deemed low, for the following reasons:

  • The Group is almost entirely UK based and operates in the field of financial services
  • Our supply chain is limited to goods and services which are required to support an organisation of this nature (e.g. support services and computer hardware / software)
  • Use of non-UK based suppliers is limited

Training

To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains and our business, we provide training to our staff.

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our Group's slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 30th October 2022

Alexis Larvin, Chief Risk Officer

AFH Financial Group Ltd

Date: 2nd March 2023