This statement is provided on behalf of Age UK and its subsidiary companies and charities and is made in pursuant to section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 ('the Act'). It constitutes Age UK's statement for the financial year ended 31 March 2019.
Age UK considers modern slavery and human trafficking extremely serious crimes, grave violations of human rights and contrary to the ethical standards and values we hold dear. As a charity that, as part of its wider objectives, fights for the protection and advancement of human rights in the UK, and around the world through our subsidiary charity, Age International, we have a zero tolerance approach to such abuses.
We are committed to preventing modern slavery in our organisation and ensuring that our supply chain is as equally free of both modern slavery and human trafficking (within the reasonable bounds of our influence and control to ensure compliance with the Act by our supply chain and / or assure ourselves of their compliance).
Age UK is a charity registered in England which exists to promote the wellbeing of older people. Age UK comprises Age UK and its subsidiary charities and companies.
Age UK and its subsidiaries employ around 1900 staff, and benefit from the support of 7000 volunteers in our 400 plus charity shops, all based in the UK.
The vast majority of our staff are employed directly by Age UK and our subsidiaries, and are not of an employment status generally considered to be vulnerable to modern slavery in this country.
We are not complacent, and have robust policies and procedures in place. Our focus, however, is on ensuring that our supply chain complies with the Act, relevant Age UK policies and procedures, and our ethical standards.
Age UK is committed to improving our practices to identify and eliminate modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains, and to act ethically and with integrity in all of our business relationships. Our supply chains comprise over 2000 suppliers and contractors. Age UK and our subsidiaries use the products and services we purchase from these suppliers to:
Age UK works with the Age UK network of over 130 independent charities to deliver charitable services in the UK. Age International works internationally through a network of partners and agencies, largely as the UK member of the HelpAge International global network.
Age UK endeavours to raise awareness among all employees of the identification, prevention and eradication of modern slavery and human trafficking, and has policies and procedures in place to ensure that they can do so. The Age UK Procurement team, a central service that operates across Age UK's subsidiaries, has oversight of our supply chain. The relevant policies are:
Age UK aims to work with only those suppliers that demonstrate high levels of commitment to monitoring and reducing the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking taking place within their organisations or supply chains.
As a pre-condition to supplying Age UK, suppliers must confirm their compliance with the Act. If a supplier fails to provide the information requested or meet Age UK's expectations, Age UK will take appropriate action, which may include not entering into a relationship or terminating the relationship.
In the 2018/19 financial year Age UK has taken steps to provide additional assurance of our supply chain's compliance with the Act:
In the 2019/20 financial year Age UK plans to take further steps to enhance our supply chain due diligence, including:
This statement is made pursuant to Part 6, section 54 of the Act and constitutes Age UK's anti-slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 31 March 2019 and has been approved by the Age UK Board of Trustees on behalf of Age UK and its charitable and trading subsidiaries.
Steph Harland
Chief Executive, Age UK
25 July 2019