Modern Slavery Act Statement for the year ended 31 March 2026
This statement is made on behalf of Saffery LLP and its UK subsidiary entities (a list of which are recorded in the firm’s annual accounts available at Companies House). It sets out the steps we have taken to mitigate the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking occurring within our operations and supply chains.
This statement is made in respect of the financial year ended 31 March 2026.
References to ‘Saffery’, ‘we’ or ‘our’ are references to all of the entities noted above.
Our organisation
Saffery is a professional services firm providing accountancy, taxation and related services to a range of clients, including private individuals, corporates and not-for-profit organisations. Saffery operates out of 9 offices across the UK. It has approximately 90 partners and over 1200 employees.
Saffery is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) which is the professional body in England and Wales regulating the activities of chartered accountants.
Our operations
Our principal activity is the provision of commercial accountancy and taxation services. Our practice is regulated, meaning our people are required to conduct themselves in accordance with the principles and standards required by the ICAEW as well as relevant legislation. In particular, Saffery and its people are subject to the Code of Ethics of the ICAEW which emphasises: (i) that its members are expected to demonstrate the highest standard of professional conduct in their working practices and (ii) the importance of ethical behaviour in their activities.
We consider the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking within our direct operations to be low given that we are a regulated practice providing professional services to our clients. Most of our people (being our partners and our employees) are qualified accountancy, taxation or other business professionals. However, we acknowledge the prevalence of modern slavery and human trafficking globally and our corporate responsibility to ensure that our operations and supply chains do not contribute to adverse human rights impacts.
Our supply chain
Our work is conducted from our offices across the UK. Our supply chain is comprised predominantly of goods and services procured for use in those offices for the purpose of enabling our people to deliver our services to our clients.
We procure goods and services across the following areas: property leasing, facilities management, human resources, information technology, hospitality, events and catering. We also engage with other professional services organisations across the UK and globally to support our work for our clients.
Our supply chain comprises a wide range of suppliers from smaller businesses to global companies. The majority of our supplier expenditure is concentrated in the UK.
We have a procurement process that sets out our requirements in relation to onboarding suppliers. This includes managing the potential modern slavery risk across our supply chain by undertaking appropriate due diligence into key suppliers and placing contractual requirements on such suppliers to comply with legislation including the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
Our clients
There are potential modern slavery risks associated with the provision of our client services. As part of our client acceptance process, we have procedures in place that require an evaluation of the client’s risk. We have a dedicated Financial Crime Compliance team who manage our evaluation of this risk.
Our people
Saffery takes its responsibilities as an employer seriously and complies with all relevant requirements in relation to its recruitment and engagement with its people. All employees who join Saffery are subject to standard checks including verification of identity, right to work, references and evidence of qualifications where appropriate. We continuously assess and update our policies as they relate to our people to ensure they remain aligned with good practice.
We are committed to recognising the contributions of our people through fair and meaningful pay practices.
We provide our people with training to support our ethical approach to business practices.
We maintain a dedicated page on our Intranet which provides links to the Modern Slavery legislation, various guides on understanding the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the ICAEW’s materials and guidance around modern slavery.
We have a dedicated partner with responsibility for ethical matters. This partner is supported by a Compliance team whose remit includes consideration of all ethical matters impacting our operations.
Our policies
The actions we take to reduce the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking in our operations are supported by various policies.
- Code of Conduct: this applies to all partners and staff. It is available on our website: A responsible business – Saffery. The Code of Conduct supports our core business values which are: excellence, integrity, collaborative, progressive and responsible. These principles underpin how Saffery operates as an organisation.
- Anti-Money Laundering: we have rigorous processes to ensure compliance with anti-money laundering requirements which all of our people are required to comply with.
- Procurement: our procurement process covers our engagement with suppliers across property space, facilities management, human resources, hospitality and catering and information technology. It requires our people to undertake due diligence into potential suppliers to identify potential risks.
- Responsible Business: this policy recognises the importance of sustainable, responsible business practices and the impact they have on our people, our clients, the environment, and broader community. It outlines our commitment to integrating environmental, social, and governance considerations into our operations, decision making processes, and client services.
- Diversity and Inclusion: our three-year Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Strategy, ‘Everyone Belongs’, which was launched in 2023 continues to drive progress. This was reviewed by the Management Board in March 2026 – key highlights include 72% positive Great Place to Work responses on feeling a sense of belonging and strong Gender Pay Gap outcomes, with increased female representation at senior manager level and above. Equality, Diversity & Inclusion is now embedded in the firm’s next four-year business plan, supported by a new role reporting to the Responsible Business Director to lead the next phase of our journey.
- Whistleblowing: staff are encouraged to speak up without fear of reprisal to voice any concerns about activities encountered while working for Saffery. Saffery’s policy on whistleblowing highlights its commitment to the highest possible standards of openness, honesty and accountability.
- Bribery Policy: this policy prohibits bribery and related corrupt activities and includes safeguards designed to detect and prevent bribery and corruption and to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements.
Review of financial year ending 31 March 2026
- Training on modern slavery was rolled out to all staff in March 2026 with completion tracked through the firm’s learning management system.
- Developed guidance available to all staff via the firm’s intranet on modern slavery awareness.
- Training on procurement processes (with a focus on the importance of due diligence to understand risks including that of modern slavery) was rolled out to staff engaged in procurement of firm-wide suppliers.
- Identified the need for a dedicated Head of Procurement to support our procurement activities. Head of Procurement joined the firm in March 2026 with responsibility for providing oversight, consistency and control over procurement matters across the firm.
- Embedded modern slavery and responsible business concerns more effectively into our procurement and contracting processes.
- Established a centralised Supplier Contracts Database.
Looking ahead
For the financial year ending 31 March 2027, our focus is:
- Embed the Head of Procurement with the aim of strengthening procurement governance across the firm.
- Establish additional governance to support the procurement process. This will include tracking of supplier relationships and centralised management and recording of supplier documentation.
- Implement a Supplier Code of Conduct that applies to all suppliers to the firm, and which sets out our expectations of our suppliers in relation to their operations as responsible businesses including zero tolerance of modern slavery activities.
- Provide targeted procurement training to staff involved in engaging firm-wide suppliers, with a focus on supplier due diligence, modern slavery risk awareness, responsible business considerations and compliance with the procurement process.
- Further embed the procurement process with a focus on:
- Stakeholder engagement.
- Ensuring that due diligence measures are consistently implemented and documented for all new suppliers.
- Early identification of high risk suppliers to allow for effective management of risk.
Approved: August 2026
Darren Drake
Managing Partner and Designated Member
Saffery LLP
The previous years’ statements:
Modern Slavery Act Statement 2025