Statement for financial year 2024

This statement is made pursuant to s.54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

It sets out the steps that Volvo Car Financial Services UK Limited (VCFSUK) has undertaken – and is continuing to take, to ensure that modern slavery or human trafficking is not taking place within our business or supply chain.

About VCFSUK

VCFSUK is a captive automotive finance company formed out of a joint venture between Santander Consumer Finance (UK) Ltd (SCUK) and the Volvo Car Corporation of Sweden.

Approach and Risk Assessment

We recognise that the business response to human trafficking and modern slavery should continually improve, and we want to take all reasonable steps to make sure we are not supporting modern slavery.

We will not enter into or maintain relationships with persons and/or entities known to be involved in human rights abuses such as child labour and modern slavery.

We are committed to creating effective systems and ensuring that we have controls in place to safeguard against any form of modern slavery taking place within the business workforce or our supply chain.

Given the nature of our business and our workforce, the modern slavery risk within our own workforce is negligible. The principal area of modern slavery risk for VCFSUK arises in relation to our relationships with third parties, particularly our supply chain.

Our workforce

We are committed to supporting our colleagues in an inclusive environment which empowers people, encourages individuality, and promotes collaboration.

All our employees and contractors are required to go through a vetting process, which includes ensuring they have a right to work in the UK. Every employee has a contract of employment that sets out the terms and conditions of their employment.

We support our people to achieve a balance between their work and personal commitments through generous family leave policies which offer a range of flexible working arrangements. These arrangements including options for homeworking, compressed hours and variable start and finish times. We also offer a variety of contractual arrangements to further build on this flexibility, which enables employees to choose and spread their hours to suit their needs.

Our approach is to reward people fairly and motivate our people with a competitive package of pay, benefits, employment conditions and policies. We offer a range of flexible benefits that can be tailored to people’s individual needs.

Training and Whistleblowing

We expect our people to act with the highest standards of business conduct at all times, to protect our reputation and contribute to a culture that is free from corruption, risk of compromise or conflicts of interest. These principles are set out in our Code of Ethical Conduct and supported by our values and behaviours.

All staff within VCFSUK, undergo a mandatory training programme, which includes training provided by both SCUK and Volvo Car UK Limited.  The suite of training includes an enhanced module relating to Financial Crime risk, including modern slavery. Additionally, all staff have access to the full policy documents that provide them with information in relation to modern slavery and human trafficking.

At VCFSUK, we encourage a “speak up” culture. Our staff know that they can raise concerns about any malpractice with us through internal and external reporting channels set out in our whistleblowing policy, and this would include any issues relating to modern slavery or human trafficking. The whistleblowing policy is supported by annual training for all colleagues, and we have a zero-tolerance approach to victimisation of whistle-blowers.

Given the nature of our business, and the policies and procedures described above, we are confident that the risk of modern slavery or human trafficking issues arising directly within our workforce is extremely minimal.

Effectiveness of our workforce policies and procedures

We consider that our policies and procedures are highly effective at ensuring that slavery and human trafficking are not taking place directly within our business. We review a number of performance indicators in assessing this effectiveness, relating to pay, benefits, employee satisfaction, and the measures taken during employee onboarding. All our employees are paid at least the Living Wage (as set out by the Living Wage Foundation) and all colleagues directly employed by VCFSUK, including those on fixed-term contracts, receive the same range of benefits.

Our Suppliers

The most salient human rights issue of our business is to ensure our supply change complies with all applicable laws in the manufacture, development and supply of products, goods and services that are provided to us and our customers. To mitigate these risks, we have in place policies, procedures and controls which allow us to understand our supply chain, identify areas of risk and to take any necessary action.

We work with over 20 external suppliers to purchase the goods and services we need to run our business. We have assessed the modern slavery risk presented by our supplier profile and consider that the majority of our suppliers represent a low risk of modern slavery. Additionally, the types of goods and services procured are generally considered to be lower risk.

Policies and Procedures

Our Counter Party & Outsourcing Selections and Management Procedure is regularly reviewed to ensure that it reflects our risk appetite and includes processes to identify, assess, manage and report potential risks in our supply chain.