UK Warehousing Association (UKWA) partner with Stronger Together to release Modern Slavery Policy for members

In partnership with Stronger Together, UK Warehousing Association (UKWA) have launched a Modern Slavery Policy for their UKWA Members.

Warehousing and logistics is a high-risk sector for labour exploitation. Factors that contribute to the level of risk include the length and complexity of supply chains, intense seasonal peaks, combined with labour shortages and consequently the high proportion of agency and temporary workers employed. The sector involves businesses in working with many third parties too, which further increases risk.

The UKWA Modern Slavery Policy is designed to help raise awareness of this important issue among members, as well as highlighting their responsibilities, to protect them – and their workforce – from the risks involved. Members can request a copy of the Modern Slavery Policy template by contacting the UKWA’s Membership team.

“Having a Modern Slavery Policy in place in today’s business environment is essential. It is an important aspect of ESG, enhancing brand reputation and helping attract employees. However, simply having a Policy to tick an ESG box is simply not enough. It must be backed by a strong framework of clear procedures for identifying, reporting and dealing with potential cases of exploitation. Accordingly, UKWA is recommending members to support the Modern Slavery Policy with a training pathway, so that they can recognise and respond to signs of this criminal activity in their own business.” Clare Bottle, UKWA CEO

“‘Our vision is a world where all workers are recruited responsibly and have fair work free from exploitation. We commend UKWA on raising awareness on the risks and realities and on taking action by making available a UKWA Modern Slavery Policy to their members. We encourage every business within the sector to use the policy, as well as our free resources for UK Warehousing businesses and to take further steps to embed good practice. Together we can tackle this exploitation.”

Jantine Werdmüller von Elgg, Co-CEO Stronger Together

We offer a wide range of sector-specific resources, including the training workshop “Tackling Labour Exploitation in UK Warehousing“. The next workshop will take place on 3rd December, with subsequent workshops scheduled for 2025.

Next steps

Visit the UK Warehousing programme page to find out more information.

Download the Tackling Labour Exploitation in UK Warehousing toolkit here

Categorised in: Anti-Slavery Day, Collaboration and Partnerships