Modern Slavery Act Statement

​Introduction

Hydrogen Group Ltd (“Hydrogen”) is a recruitment company providing temporary and permanent staffing services for multiple sectors globally, to include Energy, Life Sciences, Legal, Finance, Sales & Marketing, Business Transformation and Technology. Our annual turnover for 2020 was £82.3m. The following UK subsidiaries are included under Hydrogen Group Ltd: Hydrogen International Limited and Hydrogen Professional Limited.

Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights which is constituted in the Modern Slavery Act 2015. It takes various forms, such as slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour and human trafficking, all of which are abuses of a person’s freedoms and rights.

Hydrogen is committed to tackling modern slavery in all operations. We are dedicated to improving our practices to combat modern slavery to ensure it does not take place in any of our business. We strive to ensure all operations are conducted in an ethical manner and with integrity.

Our Supply Chains

Our supply chains include the sourcing of candidates for placement to clients. In addition to direct recruitment, our supply chains also include vendors we use, umbrella companies and limited companies that supply us with contractors. We have direct control over the sourcing of all candidates and have implemented a system of checks to be carried out by our staff when engaging candidates.

Our Policies

Hydrogen has a Modern Slavery Act Policy which is visible to the business and shows our commitment to ensuring there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains and that we are enforcing effective systems and controls to guarantee this. Our Policy includes real examples of where Hydrogen could be caught out by modern slavery to help our employees understand and combat these situations if they arise. In addition to this policy, the following policies also assist with the prevention of modern slavery: -

  • Corporate & Social Responsibility Policy

  • Whistleblowing Policy

  • Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy

  • Anti-Fraud Policy

  • Complaints Handling Policy

Due Diligence

We have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and expect all those in our supply chain and contractors to comply with our values. We have a stringent vetting procedure for all management companies and client’s we work with and undertake due diligence when considering taking on new suppliers. To ensure all those in our supply chain comply with our values, when entering new contracts, where possible, we include contractual provisions for ensuring compliance with all relevant Acts combatting modern slavery.

Risk

We have reviewed our business model and have concluded we are at low risk of modern slavery occurring with our clients and in our supply chains. This is due to the nature of niche roles we place that are for highly skilled and well-paid individuals, therefore would not be in the threshold of modern slavery. Majority of our business is in the UK therefore we have clear visibility of the candidates we place. Where there is a consultancy in the middle of the chain, or we place candidates abroad, we ensure to speak regularly with our candidates to confirm they are happy in their role, and that there are no signs of modern slavery.

Monitoring & Compliance

To ensure the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains and our business are understood, our Legal & Compliance Team include a training session on modern slavery in our induction for all new staff. Our Modern Slavery Act Policy has been sent around to the business globally to ensure awareness and is also available on our internal database to access at any time. We conduct annual reviews in our supply chains to ensure compliance with legislation, including modern slavery, is up to date.

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes Hydrogen’s slavery and trafficking statement for financial year 2020/2021.

Hayley Still

CEO

Hydrogen Group Ltd