Modern slavery statement

Our business and our supply chains

VIP-System Limited manufactures licensing plates, driver badges, windscreen discs and door signs for taxi and private hire licensing authorities across the United Kingdom. We manufacture at Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire, and we employ our own production staff.

Our supply chain is short by the standards of most manufacturers. We buy substrates and laminates, inks, foils and security materials, adhesives, fixings and packaging, together with print equipment and consumables, and we use UK carriers for delivery. Most first-tier suppliers are in the United Kingdom and the European Union.

Where the risk actually is

We assess the risk of modern slavery in our own operations as low. We employ directly, pay at or above the real Living Wage, hold right-to-work documentation for every employee, and use agency labour rarely and only through agencies we have checked.

The residual risk sits beyond our first tier, in the raw materials behind the materials we buy - polymer and resin production, mineral and pigment extraction, and electronic components - and in any packaging or hardware sourced from regions with a higher prevalence of forced labour. We do not claim visibility of every tier, because we do not have it.

What we did this year

Rather than a list of intentions:

• Included an express prohibition on forced labour, child labour and debt bondage in our purchase terms, with a right to terminate for breach.
• Issued a supplier questionnaire to first-tier material suppliers covering their own policies, their audit arrangements and their visibility of their own suppliers.
• Made the questionnaire a condition of onboarding for any new supplier.
• Briefed production and purchasing staff on what exploitation looks like in a workplace and how to report a concern.
• Reviewed our agency labour arrangements and confirmed the agencies we use hold the relevant licensing.

Our policies

We operate an anti-slavery policy applying to everyone working for us or on our behalf, including employees, directors, agency workers, contractors and consultants. It sets a zero tolerance position and requires anyone with a suspicion to report it.

It is supported by a whistleblowing policy, under which concerns can be raised without fear of detriment, and by recruitment procedures requiring verified identity, right-to-work documentation and payment into a bank account in the worker’s own name.

A breach by an employee is a disciplinary matter and may amount to gross misconduct. A breach by a supplier entitles us to terminate. We would rather change supplier than manage a supplier who cannot answer for their own workforce.

Raising a concern

If you work for us, tell your line manager or use the whistleblowing policy. If you are a supplier, a customer or a member of the public, write to the Managing Director at the address on our imprint page or email conduct@vip-system.com.

You can also contact the Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline on 08000 121 700, at any hour, in confidence. If someone is in immediate danger, call 999.

How we measure whether this works

Four measures, reported to the board annually:

A count of concerns raised at zero is not on its own evidence that nothing is wrong. It is as likely to mean that nobody knows how to report. That is why the briefing measure sits beside it.

Next year

Our priorities for the coming year:

• Extend the questionnaire beyond first-tier material suppliers to the sources behind them, starting with substrates and electronic components.
• Refresh staff briefing and include it in induction rather than running it as a one-off.
• Review the statement against the Home Office reporting guidance and publish the next one within six months of the year end.