Agricultural workers picking berries in a rural location

Risk assessment and training service

Our expertise can help you, your business and your community.

In 2014, the Institute created a Slavery and Trafficking Risk Assessment Service for Business Supply Chains (RAS).

The RAS provides a range of services, including desktop reviews, site visits, training and consultations.

Our clients include major UK supermarket chains Waitrose and Aldi, as well as utility company Yorkshire Water. While some NGOs and firms offer supply-chain tracing, we are unique in our offer of a global risk assessment of slavery in the supply chain.

Illustration of a slave master in a wooded area

Businesses have a legal – and moral – responsibility to eradicate slavery from within their operations. We help business meet that responsibility with our risk assessment and training services.

Companies turning over £36 million a year or more are legally required to publish a slavery and human trafficking statement every year. This should outline the steps they are taking to eliminate forced labour from within their business.

But the complexity and pace involved in today’s supply chains can make this seem an insurmountable task. Businesses may have countless suppliers. Those suppliers may have suppliers and so on. Commerce often needs to move rapidly to meet customer demand. This all combines to create an environment where unscrupulous labour providers can often thrive.

Let us uncover all the truths of your supply chain so there are no whistles left to blow.

Our modern slavery risk assessment service helps your business identify and avoid slavery practices, from the people you employ, to your supply chains, to the people you buy goods from, to the agencies you work with. Our global risk assessment service can scrutinise every level of your business operations.

Our risk assessments are led by social audit experts and underpinned by academic rigour. Taking this unique combination of business experience and academic insight into the field we dig deep into supply chains. We uncover potential problems such as organised crime, human trafficking and forced labour that may exist within your organisation, and provide expert training and advice on the practical steps you can take to avoid slavery practices.

Businesses have the responsibility but they also have the power to help eliminate contemporary slavery. Contact us to improve labour standards within your organisation and join a client list that includes major UK companies such as John Lewis Partnership/Waitrose, Voestalpine UK and Yorkshire Water.

Case studies

Since 2014, we have been working with organisations to help them stamp out modern slavery in their supply chains.

voestalpine UK

Working with rail suppliers voestalpine UK, we carried out an independent assessment to identify risks to labour standards focusing on its direct operations and wider supply chains in the UK.
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Yorkshire Water

Working with Yorkshire Water, we investigated over 500 of their major suppliers to ensure Modern Day Slavery doesn’t exist within its business and supply chains.
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John Lewis Partnership

The John Lewis Partnership’s commitment to tackling modern slavery is influenced by its values as an employee-owned business.
Woman working in a tea plantation
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