Writing a Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement: Guidance for Universities

BHRE and the Higher Education Procurement Association (HEPA) have joined forces to produce a Guidance for the Higher Education sector to support public buyers in their process of writing their Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement to comply with their obligations under the UK Modern Slavery Act Section 54, Transparency on Supply Chains.

This Guidance is part of our efforts towards more responsible social procurement and encourage institutions to respect, protect and promote human rights through their purchasing decisions. This Guidance aims to highlight useful insights and support those responsible for the preparation of their Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement but does not intend to provide a template or a “do this and you will be done with the Statement” guide. As we will see, the Statement should reflect the process of due diligence in your institution and the journey towards understanding your responsibility towards those who provide the products and services you procure.

The Statement is just one of the elements of the process, one that should be completed with care, attention and honesty.

This Guidance is based on our research and interactions with public buyers. We have kept is short and user-friendly, avoiding overloading the reader with data. In order to avoid providing statements which could be read as templates we have stayed clear of specific examples found in existing Statements.

The Guidance is available here.