Modern Slavery Act Statement
This statement is made pursuant to section 54 (1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. This requires organisations to publish a statement each financial year that includes details of the steps taken to ensure modern slavery or human trafficking does not take place in its business or supply chains.
Saffery LLP (Saffery) is a professional services firm of Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors providing accountancy, taxation and related services to a range of clients, including private individuals, corporates and not-for-profit organisations, operating out of 9 offices across the UK. Saffery has 88 partners and over 1,100 employees. This statement covers all UK subsidiaries of Saffery, a list of which are recorded in the firm’s annual accounts available at Companies House.
As professional advisors, much of our work is undertaken by our staff either at our clients’ premises or in our own offices. Our professional services supply chain is composed, in the main, of other regulated professional service firms and individuals. These are subject to supervision by their own oversight bodies such as the ICAEW, ICAS, ACCA, SRA and the FCA, and consequently we have assessed the risk of them being involved in slavery and/or human trafficking as low.
Our non-professional services supply chain comprises mainly of organisations providing IT and office services (such as premises, security, catering and cleaning). Since our last statement update we have embedded a more thorough supplier onboarding process requiring potential suppliers to advise on how they comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015, paying particular attention to those suppliers operating in industries with a higher exposure to the potential for exploitation of workers.
We continue to improve our existing and potential supplier due diligence processes, including use of questionnaires and risk assessments.
We continue to keep under review best practice training options for staff. We also have a dedicated intranet page which provides links to the legislation, various guides on understanding the act and our regulator’s materials and guidance around modern slavery.
In conjunction with changes in legislation we are continually looking for ways in which we can enhance our business practices to identify and mitigate the abuse and exploitation of vulnerable workers from crimes associated with the Modern Slavery Act and our statement reflects our Partners’ commitment to its principles.
Matthew Burton
Managing Partner and Designated Member
Saffery LLP
31 March 2023