Anti-slavery and human trafficking policy

Scope and status of this statement

This policy applies to everyone who works for or with The Sandpiper Group LTD: directors, employees, contractors, agency workers, volunteers and suppliers. It covers the financial year ending 30 June 2026 and is reviewed at least once a year.

Our annual turnover is below the £36 million threshold in section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, so we are not legally required to publish a statement. We publish one voluntarily because we ask businesses on VibeDex to hold themselves to a standard, and we should show ours. If we pass the threshold, we will publish a statement approved by the board and signed by a director, and keep it on this page.

Our business and supply chain

The Sandpiper Group LTD (company number 14184250) is a private limited company registered in England and Wales at Unit 11 Forest Gate, Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, SN15 3RS. We build and run VibeDex, a UK business directory and the Vibe Walk street discovery tool. We do not manufacture goods, we hold no physical stock, and we do not use labour agencies for low-skilled or seasonal work, so our exposure sits mainly with the services we buy in.

• Cloud hosting, databases, storage and email delivery providers.
• Mapping and open data sources, including OpenStreetMap and UK public datasets.
• Software subscriptions, payment and identity providers.
• Occasional freelance design, content and development contractors, engaged directly.
• Professional services such as accountancy and legal advice.
• A small amount of office equipment and IT hardware bought from UK retailers.

We judge the risk of modern slavery in our direct supply chain to be low, with the residual risk sitting further down it: hardware manufacturing, and cleaning or facilities work at the data centres our providers use. We have no direct relationship with those tiers, so we rely on our providers' own published statements and codes of conduct.

Our commitments

• We will not use, and will not knowingly work with anyone who uses, forced labour, bonded labour, child labour or trafficked labour.
• Everyone who works for us does so freely, keeps their own identity documents, is paid at least the National Minimum or National Living Wage, and can end their engagement with proper notice.
• We never charge recruitment fees to workers, and we never withhold pay, documents or equipment as a way of holding someone in place.
• We pay contractors and freelancers on the terms agreed, and check that self-employed status is genuine rather than a way of stripping out rights.
• We expect the same standards from our suppliers, and reserve the right to end a relationship where a supplier will not put a breach right.

Due diligence and how we check

• Before we take on a significant supplier we look for a modern slavery statement, a code of conduct or an equivalent policy, and we favour suppliers that publish one.
• Anti-slavery wording sits in our supplier and contractor terms, including a duty to tell us promptly about any suspected breach.
• We check the right to work and identity of everyone we engage, and pay into named accounts held by the person doing the work.
• Directors review this policy, our supplier list and any concerns raised each year.

Training and awareness

Because we are a small team, training is directed rather than formal: everyone who buys or engages on our behalf is briefed on this policy, on the warning signs of labour exploitation, and on how to raise a concern. Directors keep up to date using Home Office and Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority guidance.

Listings on VibeDex

VibeDex lists businesses from public open data and from owners who add or claim their own page. A listing is not an endorsement and is not a labour-standards check. Where we are told, with enough detail to act on, that a listed business is involved in slavery, trafficking or serious labour exploitation, we will remove or suspend the listing and its badges while we look into it, and we will cooperate with the police, the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority or any other competent authority.

Report a business through the "Report a problem" link on its listing, or read the complaints and takedown policy. Business owners' obligations are set out in the business listing terms.

Raising a concern

If you suspect slavery, trafficking or labour exploitation anywhere in our business, our supply chain or a business we list, tell us. Concerns can be raised in confidence, and nobody will be penalised for raising one honestly, even if it turns out to be mistaken. We will acknowledge within five working days and respond substantively within ten.

In an emergency, or where someone is in immediate danger, call 999. Otherwise the Modern Slavery Helpline is available around the clock on 08000 121 700, and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority takes reports about labour abuse. You can report to any of these without telling us first.

Approval

This policy is approved by the directors of The Sandpiper Group LTD and will next be reviewed by 22 August 2027.