Modern Slavery Statement
At Abetta Travel Services Limited (“we”, “our”, “us”) are committed to undertaking due care and diligence to ensure that we conduct our business according to our obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA 2015).
- Abetta Couriers UK Ltd: No. 10866227 Registered Office: 925 Finchley Road, London, NW11 7PE
- Abetta Travel Services Limited: No. 07062804 Registered Office: 925 Finchley Road, London, NW11 7PE
Abetta is one of the leading providers of premium ground transportation offering a comprehensive range of services to suit the needs of our customers at Abetta. We recognise that in addition to a legal obligation we have an ethical responsibility to support the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and endeavour to ensure there are no Modern Slavery risks within our own business or our supply chains. Whilst recognising our obligations to set out the steps we have taken to ensure that modern slavery and human trafficking are not taking place in our supply chains, we acknowledge that we do not control individuals and organisations in our supply chains.
In that spirit, we have published our annual statement on slavery and human trafficking, made in compliance with section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, in which we explain how slavery and human trafficking can affect our business and the steps we are taking in the fight against it.
OUR COMPANY STRUCTURE & VISION
Abetta was established in 1976 with the belief that ground transportation could be done better. By combining the latest technologies with traditional customer service values, we disrupted the industry (before disrupting industries had even become a thing). We combine exceptional reliability, a high level of safety, sophisticated technology and 24/7 support teams to ensure our customers receive a first-class service that offers excellent value for money.
Our headquarters are based in London, UK.
Our vision is to be the world’s premium brand ground transportation service for our customers.
To support our vision, we aim to provide an environment for employees and partners where they are respected, valued and supported.
We work with like-minded partners and suppliers whose values and ethos align with our own.
OUR EMPLOYEES
Many aspects of our culture make up our unique environment. Maintaining and strengthening our culture is part of our everyday working life and underpins our corporate policy. We strive to create an enjoyable and safe environment where our staff can excel. We recognise our staff as our most important asset and employee welfare is a key objective that is linked to the company’s unique culture and values. We do not tolerate discrimination, abuse or harassment of any kind and we expect the same of our stakeholder groups including, but not limited to: customers, manufacturers, shareholders, suppliers and employees. All staff must adhere to our codes of conduct and company standards and policies.
We operate a thorough recruitment and selection process for all our hiring decisions. This includes obtaining documented proof of an individual’s right to work in the country in which they are employed. Should a concern arise we operate an open-door communication policy, and we also provide a protected disclosure facility should a staff member require confidentiality.
We always pay at least the minimum wage rate applicable.
OUR SUPPLY CHAIN
We only work with reputable suppliers, most of whom we have partnered with for many years, and we take responsibility for endeavouring to ensure our supply chains are free from slave labour. Our Procurement and Affiliates teams are dedicated to managing trade and partner relationships. We ensure suppliers are appropriately licensed to carry out the service they are providing. Spend commitments are subject to legal contracts and we do not pay cash for services.
Our Partners and Suppliers are required to comply with our Operating Principles including adherence to all relevant legislation in the countries in which they operate and all relevant International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions. The principles set expectations around the adoption of standards regarding forced and compulsory labour; child labour; health, safety and hygiene; abuse and discipline; freedom of association and employee representation; remuneration; employment terms; working hours; equality of treatment; and community impact and aim to ensure that all partners and suppliers adhere to high standards of ethical, environmental and social behaviour.
OUR ACTIVITIES TO DATE & FUTURE
As part of the risk management process, we continue to review threats and consider any existing or future arrangements. We have developed a review process to monitor manage and mitigate risks. Risks previously identified in this area have resulted in the introduction of our Supplier and Partner Operating Principles, enhancements to our supplier due diligence and we are developing our supplier categorisation programme.
We have updated our Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Standard which requires all staff to promptly report any concerns or suspicions of malpractice and to avoid any activity that might lead to, or suggest, a breach of the Standard. It is made available to all staff via the company intranet and publicly on request. The Standard now has a Governance framework formally documented. Failure to comply with the Standard will be investigated and may be treated as a disciplinary offence. We may terminate our relationship with individuals and organisations working on our behalf if they breach this Standard.
Our Supplier and Partner Operating Principles and contracts are reviewed periodically, but at the minimum annually. We have reviewed and updated our procurement procedures to ensure that suppliers undergo appropriate due diligence, and our next steps will be to develop supplier categorisation.
Our Affiliate department maintains close relationships with our partners for ground transportation and will be reviewing the due diligence performed for these suppliers in 2024/25.
We will also, where appropriate and practical, continue to visit our partners’ and suppliers’ offices, both in the UK and abroad. This will assist us in being familiar with how they operate and what safeguards they have in place to reduce, remove and prevent the use of slave or forced labour in their organisations and their supply chains.
These measures are part of a continuous improvement journey with suppliers and partners and we recognise that further down our supply chains, suppliers and partners may need more support we will appraise the partner and supplier review process to enable us to monitor adherence periodically as appropriate to the supplier and/or partner.
The development of our audit programme is enabling compliance checks with all our policies and procedures and we are developing our reporting functionality in this area.
We continue to make sure that our employees are aware of the Modern Slavery Act, of the definitions of slavery and human trafficking and that they know what to do should they suspect a case of slavery or human trafficking. To better support this, our employee induction and compliance training programme is being updated. Our Head of Procurement holds the Professional level of the CIPS Global Standard for Procurement and Supply qualification, and plans are in place to extend the CIPS qualification to the rest of the team.
This statement is reviewed and updated annually and has been published by the Modern Slavery Act 2015. It sets out the steps taken by Abetta and other relevant group companies during the financial year ending 2023/24 to prevent modern slavery and human trafficking in its business and supply chains.
Abetta’s financial year runs from 1st April – 31st March
Approved by the Abetta Board.
Sean Frankel
CEO, Abetta Travel Services Ltd
March 2024
