As a leading professional services firm, we’re committed to respecting and upholding internationally recognised human rights. We published our first Human Rights policy in 2012, and at a global level are long standing members of the UN Global Compact. Following the launch of the UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs) Reporting Framework and the UK Parliament passing the Modern Slavery Act (2015) we began reporting annually on our actions in this area. We continue to review and strengthen our approach to human rights issues, including modern slavery, 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 risk 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.
More recently, we created a free training resource for suppliers, with practical guidance to help them understand and manage modern slavery and broader human rights risks in their supply chain.
We set out the detail 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 modern slavery training is an important contribution to the well-rounded understanding we all need of responsible business issues and where risks may arise.”
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