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Modern slavery act

We fully support the government’s objectives to eradicate modern slavery and human trafficking. We are strongly committed to making sure our supply chains and business activities are free from ethical and labour standards abuses.

We are an NHS employer and the NHS standard contracts which NHS England publishes, govern how we engage with our suppliers and require compliance with relevant legislation, including the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The 2022 updates to these contracts strengthen our position on Modern Slavery, extending requirements and the option to terminate for breaches of social and labour laws.

Current policies and initiatives

People

Our people policies are equality-impact assessed. They provide processes and procedures to make sure that our colleagues are always treated fairly. We:

  • confirm the identities of all new colleagues and their right to legally work in the UK
  • comply with the latest legislation on pay and employment terms and conditions, meaning we pay all colleagues at least the National Living Wage
  • have employment policies and procedures that make sure we comply with the latest employment legislation, and provide guidance and advice to colleagues and managers
  • are committed to creating and ensuring a non-discriminatory and respectful working environment for our colleagues, in line with our corporate social responsibilities
  • have a set of values and behaviours that all staff are expected to comply with – all candidates are expected to demonstrate these attributes as part of the recruitment selection process
  • have our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Solving Problems At Work, and Freedom to Speak Up policies which provide a platform for colleagues to raise concerns about poor working practices
  • regularly review and track progress on promoting and supporting diversity and inclusion, both as an employer and service provider
  • monitor trends in our Workforce data and use Equality Impact Assessments (EIA) to inform the development of people processes and the services we provide

The Trust is committed to tackling workforce inequality. We aim to be a truly anti-racist organisation and have worked hard to understand and improve Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). We conducted a race Equality Review in 2021 and launched our anti-racism statement in September 2022. This includes a commitment to “perpetual learning and reflection at all levels in order to identify actions and tackle structural racism.” Our commitments are implemented via a detailed action plan, and held to account by an annual EDI review and report.

Embracing diversity in our workforce, and ensuring services and training are accessible, is one of the Trust’s overarching values and we are committed to ensuring inclusivity in all of our provision. The Trust opposes all forms of unfair and unlawful discrimination. All job applicants, employees, services users and students are treated fairly and equally. As a mental health institution, we are keenly aware of the psychological damage that can be done by inequality and strive to address these inequalities in everything we do.

The Trust’s recruitment and selection processes are underpinned by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Policy, ensuring an inclusive process that ensures fairness at every stage:

  • Job adverts specifically encourage individuals from traditionally disadvantaged sections of the population, or individuals with protected characteristics, to apply.
  • Diverse interview panels – we have a pool of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion representatives from our staff networks who sit on our interview panels.

All staff are knowledgeable of the nine protected characteristics, experienced in equality and diversity issues, and are skilled at integrating these into their work.

  • Mandatory Equality Diversity and Inclusion training is completed by all new staff and renewed every three years. Compliance is monitored monthly.
  • The Trust has committed that all staff will undergo Allyship training, helping to promote and foster an inclusive Trust culture.
  • All Board members, Senior Leaders and Managers undergo mandatory inclusive and compassionate leadership training.

All employees receive supervision and appraisal, ensuring performance is of the highest standard, training needs met and learning applied. Inspired by a commitment to drive out any systemic racism, we seek feedback from staff, patients, service users and students from Black, Asian and UK ethnic minority backgrounds on their experiences. Race and other EDI elements are becoming standard agenda items in all Trust meetings further reducing inequality in the workspace.

Code of conduct for suppliers

We expect our suppliers to adhere to the same ethical principles. All suppliers must prohibit the use of any forced, bonded, or compulsory labour. They must not engage in any practice which is inconsistent with the rights stated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Any young workers must be protected from any work which is hazardous or may compromise their health, wellbeing, or education.

We expect all suppliers to follow all relevant legislation relating to:

  • discrimination
  • recruitment
  • employment
  • working hours
  • health and safety
  • operating a safe and healthy workplace.

Effectiveness and continuous improvement

We’re committed to reviewing the effectiveness of the initiatives and measures in place to identify and mitigate the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking. This will:

  • ensure continuous improvement
  • make us more resilient to modern slavery and human trafficking