Section 54 of the UK Modern Slavery Act requires a commercial organisation that has a turnover of over £36 million with operations in the UK to publish a slavery and human trafficking statement each year which sets out the steps it has taken to ensure there is no slavery or trafficking in its supply chains or its own business, or states that it has taken no such steps.

Businesses should provide a hotline or other grievance mechanism so that anyone part of or witness to their operations and supply chains may report or flag suspected incidents of slavey or trafficking. As part of business’ responsibility to respect worker’s rights, those affected by modern slavery and those witnessing violations in any part of a company’s operations should be able to freely report incidents. These mechanisms should be clear and transparent, and any incidents should be recorded and monitored. 

For further information on grievance mechanisms please refer to the Home Office Guidance, pp. 33 or the CORE Guidance, pp. 19.

This metric assesses:

Does the company provide a hotline or reporting mechanism where grievances or suspected incidents of slavery or trafficking can be reported for direct employees and/or supply chains workers?

A whistleblowing mechanisms may include:

1. An  reporting line or hotline that workers can call ( reporting managed by third parties fall in this category too) 

2. Whistleblower protections for employees so they will not be penalised if they report modern slavery cases (mention of any kind of protection is sufficient e.g. "we ensure that anyone raising such concern will not suffer dismissal, disciplinary action, threats or other unfavourable treatment as a result")

3. An employee or independent focal point to whom reports can be made

A direct employee is someone who is working directly for the company either in the company head office or in regional offices.

A supply chain worker is someone who is employed by contractors or sub-contractors further down the supply chain.

For many companies the risk of forced labour is much greater within their supply chain rather than in their own operations - as such the provision of a mechanism that extends to workers within the company’s supply chain is regarded as a positive step.

Please select as many mechanisms as apply.

Where there is no mention in the statement of who the mechanism applies to, please assume it applies only to direct employees.

If the business indicates it is developing a whistleblowing or grievance mechanism or planning to implement one in the future, please indicate “In Development” and again give details in the comments section.

Please select "No" if no whistleblowing mechanism is described in the statement.

For each value, please include a comment that copies relevant information from the statement. If the policy that you wish to include is not listed, please add a comment and flag the section for review.

* Note on choosing the Year of your answer

Read the MSA Statement carefully to find out what year it covers. For instance, if the statement relates to activities and actions undertaken in the period January - October 2016, choose 2016 as your answer's year.

Companies may report in fiscal years (FY) that include months from two different calendar years. In this case, apply the following rule:

• If the latest calendar year ends in Q1 (January-March) cite the previous calendar year. For example: a statement for FY 2016/17 ending in March should be used for adding data for the year 2016.
• If the latest calendar year ends in Q2 or later (April-December) cite the latest calendar year. For example: a statement for FY2016/17 ending in April should be used for adding data for the year 2017.