Modern Slavery Statement 2024-2025

Off

Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights. It takes various forms, such as human trafficking, forced labour, servitude, and slavery, all of which involve depriving a person of their liberty for personal or commercial gain. 

We recognise our duty to take a robust approach in eradicating slavery and human trafficking throughout our supply chains.  This annual statement outlines the steps the University of Sheffield has taken in the last financial year and those we intend to take to address the issues of Modern Slavery in our supply chains.

1. The University's Organisational Structure and Supply Chains

Incorporated by Royal Charter in 1905, the University of Sheffield is a public research University and an exempt charity under the Charities Act 2006. With a turnover exceeding £850m for the financial year ending July 2024, the University qualifies as a commercial organisation under The Modern Slavery Act 2015 (Transparency in Supply Chains) requiring us to report annually on our efforts to eradicate modern slavery from our supply chain(s).

The University has over 27,000 students, 8,500 staff and strategic partnerships with local, national, and global organisations. Our academic schools are grouped into five faculties:

  • Arts & Humanities
  • Engineering
  • Health
  • Science
  • Social Sciences

In addition, the Advanced Manufacturing Group (AMG) is a network of world-leading research and innovation centres collaborating with government agencies to support manufacturing companies globally to drive innovation and sustainability.

Faculties and the AMG are supported by Professional Services, led by our Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Director of Human Resources.

Supply Chains

Our supply chains deliver goods and services that support research, teaching, and operations, including, but not limited to:

  • Student recruitment, accommodation, catering, and cleaning
  • Security, IT and AV equipment
  • Laboratory equipment and consumables
  • Engineering supplies, furniture, stationery and printing
  • Utilities, construction, and facilities maintenance

  • Travel

The supply chain includes multi-nationals, SMEs and private individuals. We recognise that modern slavery and human trafficking can occur at any level of our supply chain, both domestically and internationally.

The University is a member of the North Eastern Universities Purchasing Consortium (NEUPC), itself a part of the national UK Universities Purchasing Consortia (UKUPC).  These consortia facilitate collaboration on ethical procurement and best practices in tackling modern slavery.

We engage on modern slavery and sustainability issues with the wider university sector through our membership of the Higher Education Procurement Association (HEPA) and representative membership of the national Responsible Procurement Steering Group.

Spending money with a social and ethical conscience, supporting SMEs, focussing on renewable energy, and ensuring the goods and services we are procuring are free from modern slavery and human trafficking are just some of the aspects the University’s Procurement team focuses on.

2. Our policies

To support our commitment to ensuring modern slavery and human trafficking do not exist in our supply chains, the University maintains and regularly reviews the following policies:

  • Equal Opportunities Policy
  • Sustainability Policies
  • Supplier Code of Conduct
  • Control of Contractor’s Policy
  • Procurement Policy (including our Modern Slavery Statement)

In 2025, the University will further develop a specific Modern Slavery Policy.

Our terms and conditions require all suppliers to comply with these policies as a condition of their contracts with the University.

3. Due diligence processes

We undertake a structured due diligence process to mitigate Modern Slavery risks, including:

  • Assessing vendors against International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards and the Modern Slavery Act 2015 during tendering.
  • Ensuring Procurement Team staff receive training from the Higher Education Procurement Association on Modern Slavery and Protecting Human Rights in the Supply Chain.
  • Requiring Procurement Team members to be qualified Members of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (MCIPS) or actively working towards the qualification, to be aligned with CIPS code of ethics.
  • Engaging with NEUPC and other HE procurement consortia on responsible procurement.
  • Using the HE Master Commodity Code Risk analysis tool, we assess and mitigate modern slavery risks during all stages of the procurement cycle.
  • Conducting a vetting process on all new vendor setups, regardless of contract value.
  • We have adopted the HE Sector’s Code of Supplier Conduct and suppliers are required to understand and adhere to the principles contained within. Adopted by other members of UKUPC, these have been built into our standard Terms and Conditions at the University.
  • We have affiliate membership of Electronics Watch via our purchasing consortia and obtain reports on identified issues they may affect our supply chains.
  • We have built Social Value measurement and promoting methodology into our procurement procedures and templates.

4. Risk assessment, management and training

During the financial year 2025/2026 we will:

  • Follow up on our Modern Slavery Risk Assessment to work with high to medium risk vendors to assess and mitigate modern slavery risks throughout their extended supply chains.
  • Develop and roll out new modern slavery web page support including roll out of new training for University staff.
  • Introduce new Modern Slavery Policy inclusive of refreshed whistleblowing procedures.
  • Develop our methodology to assess our Modern Slavery risk and using pre-defined assessment criteria undertake this assessment annually

5. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

To measure the effectiveness of our work, we will develop and introduce the following KPIs:

  • Training completion rates
  • Supply Chain verification checks at vendor onboarding stage
  • Undertake the Governments Modern Slavery Assessment against 2024/2025 performance to benchmark achievement of improvements.
  • Deliver approved Modern Slavery Policy by summer 2025.

Review and approval

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and is reviewed annually.  It was approved by the University Executive Board and signed by:

Professor Koen Lamberts
President and Vice-Chancellor
For and on behalf of the University of Sheffield
15 April 2025

A global reputation

Sheffield is a world top-100 research university with a global reputation for excellence. We're a member of the Russell Group: one of the 24 leading UK universities for research and teaching.

About the University