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 approximately 90 partners and over 1175 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.
Saffery is a member of the ICAEW (the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) which is the professional body regulating the activities of chartered accountants. Our activities are subject to the Code of Ethics of the ICAEW.
We acknowledge the prevalence of modern slavery globally. We recognise our corporate responsibility to ensure that we do not cause or contribute to adverse human rights impacts linked to our operations and via our business relationships.
The professional services industry is not typically considered a high-risk sector for labour-related breaches given most of our people are highly skilled, permanently employed professionals but we recognise that modern slavery can arise in any industry and we regularly review the steps we take to assess and mitigate this risk. 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 in the UK and internationally. These are subject to supervision by their own oversight bodies such as the ICAEW, the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Financial Conduct Authority, 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 support services (such as IT, HR, marketing and legal) and office services (such as premises, security, catering and cleaning). Since our last statement update, we have continued to embed thorough supplier onboarding processes 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 have developed 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 have a dedicated intranet page which provides links to the legislation, various guides on understanding the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the ICAEW’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 2015 and our statement reflects our Partners’ commitment to its principles.
Matthew Burton
Managing Partner and Designated Member
Saffery LLP
31 March 2024
The previous years’ statements: