How we work with logistics and warehousing suppliers to mitigate the risk of modern slavery

From: Crown Commercial Service
Published: Mon Dec 27 2021


Modern slavery happens in the UK and is often hard to spot. We want to do all we can to work with our suppliers to address and mitigate the risks of modern slavery.

Modern slavery isn't just something that happens in countries far away, it happens in the UK too and is often hard to spot. At CCS, we want to do all we can to work with our suppliers to address and mitigate the risks of modern slavery.

As logistics and warehousing is classed as a high-risk sector, we have carried out a modern slavery assessment on the framework suppliers.

How the assessment was carried out

All suppliers were assessed using the government's Modern Slavery Assessment Tool. The tool helps to identify risks, suggest improvements, and provide guidance on how to work on any improvements identified.

Once the assessment was issued, we followed up with suppliers to check on their progress.

The results of the assessment and next steps

Each assessment was given a percentage score and a colour status:

  • green, 70% to 100%
  • orange, 40% to 69%
  • yellow, 20% to 39%
  • red, 0% to 19%

The average score was 60% which puts the framework in the orange zone. Breaking down the scores by company size and lots helped us to identify the top 5 risks and improvements suggested, and seek advice from our policy team on how to tackle these areas.

This highlighted areas where continuous improvement could be achieved by the framework suppliers. We then worked with suppliers to understand what they were doing to mitigate their modern slavery risks, and how they would take on board the suggested improvements.

Why use the Logistics and Warehousing framework?

We carry out the due diligence checks on suppliers for you. We don't just review what they are doing to help mitigate the risks of modern slavery: we also review what they are doing on other key policy objectives, such as social value and carbon net zero.

Find out more

To find out more about the services and solutions offered, please visit our Logistics and Warehousing framework page.

If you would like to speak to a category expert at CCS, please complete our short contact form and we will be in touch. You can also email us at info@crowncommercial.gov.uk or call us at 0345 410 2222.

Company: Crown Commercial Service

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