As a leading professional services firm, we’re committed to respecting and upholding internationally recognised human rights. We enact this through our Human Rights policy, which draws on the International Bill of Human Rights, the International Labour Organisation Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
At a global level, we have been a signatory to the UN Global Compact since 2002. Since the Modern Slavery Act was passed in 2015, we have reported annually on our actions in this area through our Modern Slavery Statement published each December. Through our long-standing human rights and modern slavery programme, we continue to review and strengthen our approach to the mitigation of human rights risks across our operations and supply chain.
Risks and opportunities
Incidences of human rights abuses and modern slavery are increasingly being reported in the media, and are not constrained by geography. Geopolitical instability, widening inequalities and forced migration, exacerbated by the effects of climate change, continue to leave those vulnerable exposed to exploitation. That’s why it’s important that we continue to identify and manage potential risks associated with human rights violations in our business and supply chain, adapting to changing times and global issues.
Human rights also present us with an opportunity to reinforce our Purpose — to build trust in society and solve important problems. We’re doing this by embedding processes and programmes in our operations and supply chain, and sharing our approach with our business partners and through the specialist advice we can offer to our clients, where we advise on how to manage modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains.
Programmes
We have a comprehensive programme to manage the direct and indirect human rights risks associated with our operations and supply chain. Meeting the legislative requirements of the Modern Slavery Act (2015) our approach draws on the principles of the UNGP’s Reporting Framework.
In 2019, we developed and launched modern slavery training for all our operational and client-facing workforce. This online learning module was designed to develop core knowledge on the topic, what it means for our business and what we’re doing about it, as well as practical advice to enable staff to spot the signs of modern slavery.
We also actively engage with our larger suppliers and those with higher modern slavery risk to promote sustainable business practices, for example through training and engagement opportunities, and the development of modern slavery guidance documents.
We set out the details of our policies, governance, risk management approach and related reporting in our annual Modern Slavery Statement. You can also read and download our statements from previous years.
“Our programme of work would not be possible without the consistent efforts and collaboration of our suppliers, and we remain driven to working with organisations who share our commitment to sustainability and respect for human rights”
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