Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking

Modern slavery & human trafficking statement

This statement comprises the slavery and human trafficking statement of Hesley Group for the financial year ended 31 March 2026.  Hesley Group recognises its responsibilities under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and is committed to upholding human rights and ethical labour practices. We assign training on modern slavery and human trafficking to all roles with line management responsibility as part of our commitment to improving and continually reviewing our practices where possible to combat slavery and human trafficking.

Modern slavery is recognised as a form of abuse within our safeguarding framework, and concerns are managed in line with our safeguarding policies and statutory responsibilities. We actively encourage colleague engagement and reporting of concerns relating to unsafe or unethical working practices. Our approach reflects risk-based thinking in line with quality management principles, ensuring proportionate controls are applied across our operations and supply chain.

ORGANISATION’S STRUCTURE

Hesley Group is a specialist, values-led organisation providing integrated education care and support through a consultant-led model. We support people with learning disabilities and intensive specialist support needs. We employ 1,283 colleagues and in the financial year ended March 2026, had an annual turnover of £64.4 million.

OUR SUPPLY CHAINS

Education, care and support are provided by Hesley Group colleagues within properties which are owned by Hesley Group and based wholly within the United Kingdom.  There is no manufacturing or distribution involved.

OUR POLICIES ON SLAVERY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING

We are committed to ensuring there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business.  We are committed 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. We are committed to protecting the health, safety, and welfare of all workers, including those within our supply chain.

DUE DILIGENCE PROCESSES FOR SLAVERY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING

As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk we ensure that our recruitment practices follow appropriate guidelines.  This involves ‘safer recruitment’ under Ofsted and CQC guidelines.  All Hesley Group colleagues are subject to right to work checks and DBS checks as appropriate to their role.  Our dealings with other suppliers include building contractors, suppliers of food, domestic supplies and office supplies.  In respect of these parties we have systems in place to:

• Identify and assess potential risk in our supply chains.
• Mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our supply chains.
• Monitor potential risk in our supply chains.
• Protect whistleblowers.

SUPPLIER ADHERENCE TO OUR VALUES

We have zero tolerance to slavery and human trafficking.  To ensure all those in our supply chain and contractors comply with our values we maintain senior relationships contact with all our suppliers. This involves director oversight and consists of involvement from the following departments:  People Services, Finance (Procurement), Business Development and external legal review.

TRAINING

To ensure an appropriate level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains and our business, we provide induction training to colleagues. We also assign dedicated training on modern slavery and human trafficking to over 330 colleagues in the organisation with line management responsibility.

OUR EFFECTIVENESS IN COMBATING SLAVERY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING

We continually review our effectiveness and any areas of additional review that we should implement.

Virginia Perkins
CEO – Hesley Group

Date:  June 2026