Modern slavery statement

Executive Summary

Modern slavery is a grave violation of human rights, involving the deprivation of an individual’s liberty for personal or commercial exploitation. This hidden issue manifests in various forms, including forced and compulsory labour, and human trafficking. 

According to the United Nations International Labour Organisation, an estimated 49.6 million people worldwide are living in conditions of modern slavery.

As an ethical and socially responsible health and social care charity, we are dedicated to:

• Addressing instances of modern slavery encountered within our service operations.
• Ensuring that our core activities and supply chains are free from slavery and human trafficking, in accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
   

The statement has been created in compliance with the requirements of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to: 

Provide a review of our modern slavery and human trafficking statement for our activities April 2023 to March 2024:

• Establishing a Modern Slavery Panel.
• Increasing uptake of training to improve knowledge and skills in relation to modern slavery.
• Reviewing key documents to ensure they include relevant information regarding modern slavery.
• Improving our procurement practices by embedding social value criteria and weighting into evaluation processes and decision making.
   

Outline our aims for April 2024 to March 2025 including: 

• Improve recruitment processes when using recruitment agencies.
• Review key documents/policies and update them, to ensure they respond to modern slavery, human trafficking and smuggling
• Support our DSLs and the wider workforce to be more knowledgeable about modern slavery, human trafficking and smuggling, and to develop skills to identify, prevent and to safeguard against these risks. 
• Improve arrangements with contractors to support supply chains in reducing the risk of modern slavery.