Modern Slavery Statement

Introduction

Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights. It takes various forms, such as slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour and human trafficking, all of which have in common the deprivation of a person's liberty by another in order to exploit them for personal or commercial gain.

We are committed to improving our practices to combat slavery and human trafficking. 

This statement is made pursuant to section 54{1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 ("the Act") and constitutes the University of Liverpool's response to the requirements of the Act.

Organisational structure

The University of Liverpool is a large research intensive University with 25,549 registered full and part time students on campus and is recognised as a European leader in 100% online postgraduate education, with around 20,000 online graduates. We are based in Liverpool but are involved across the globe, we employ approximately 5,638 staff and had an income of £597.6 million for the financial year ending 31 July 2021.


More information about us can be found at https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/ 

Our supply chains

Our supply chains cover a wide range of categories which have been risk assessed for the potential for modern slavery in the supply chain. The categories identified as being at high risk from modern slavery are:

  • Construction
  • Facilities Services
  • Food Supplies
  • ICT Equipment
  • Staffing Agencies

Our policies and due diligence processes on slavery and human trafficking

We are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business.

All of our suppliers are required to agree to adhere to the University's Supplier Code of Conduct which can be found at our supplier code of conduct (pdf file): Supplier_Code_of_Conduct.pdf 

The Supplier Code of Conduct is an indication of our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place anywhere in our supply chains.

The University is taking a proactive approach to the issue of modern slavery in supply chains and we are working with our suppliers, through an online tool, to develop individual action plans that address modern slavery and other key sustainability issues.

We are an accredited Real Living Wage Employer.  In addition to obliging us to pay all of our own staff a minimum of the Real Living Wage accreditation also requires that we ensure that any contractor's employees working on our premises for a specified period are paid at least the Real Living Wage.

The University is a member of the North Western Universities Procurement Consortium (NWUPC), which in turn is part of a wider network of consortia covering higher education across the UK.  Together, the purchasing consortia have agreed a shared Sustainability Policy to which all  consortia are committed.  This policy includes steps that form part of the supplier selection process for the major collaborative framework procurements that are conducted on behalf of consortium members, part of this selection process is aimed at ensuring that slavery and human trafficking are not taking place within the supply chain. Approximately 30% of the University's non-pay expenditure is channelled through such collaborative framework agreements.  The NWUPC is an affiliate member of Electronics Watch on behalf of its members. Electronics Watch is an independent monitoring organisation established with the purpose of protecting the rights of workers within supply chains.  Their focus is on working with public sector organisations who purchase electronics and collaborating with them to have a positive impact on workers through the goods the public sector procures.

Training

The University's Procurement Department is involved in any major contracts that are tendered by the University and the Procurement Department staff receive appropriate training to ensure that they have a good understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains.  We have also developed an online training module in order to raise awareness of these risks amongst all relevant staff across the University.

 

This statement has been approved by the Formal Senior Leadership Team and the Council of the University of Liverpool.