Modern Slavery Statement
Introduction
We have developed a modern slavery statement for the first time this year (2023) to demonstrate our commitment to ethical trading principles. This statement sets out the measures we have already taken - and that we are continuing to build on - to understand and minimise modern slavery risks within our business structure and supply chain.
We are committed to ensuring that modern slavery is not taking place in any part of our operations or our supply chains
Our organisation
Macmillan Cancer Support is a leading cancer charity and company limited by guarantee, with operations in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. We have around 1,900 employees and 18,000 volunteers, all based in the UK. Our employees are not in any category that is seen as vulnerable to modern slavery in this country. We are an accredited Living Wage Employer with the Living Wage Foundation, and all our employees (regardless of location) are paid at least the London Living Wage.
As an organisation, we offer expert emotional, financial and practical support for people living with cancer in the UK and we raise money to be able to provide this support in the future.
At time of writing, we have 7 wholly owned subsidiary companies:
- Macmillan Cancer Support Trading Limited, which sells Christmas cards and other items, and carries out fundraising trading activities
- Macmillan Cancer Information Lottery Limited
- Macmillan Financial Grants Lottery Limited
- Macmillan Influencing Cancer Care Lottery Limited
- Macmillan Healthcare Lottery Limited
- Macmillan Cancer Support Enterprises Limited (currently dormant)
- Cancerbackup (currently dormant)
The lottery subsidiaries have stopped trading and will be closed in 2024. The subsidiaries transfer any profits they make to the charity. This statement covers Macmillan Cancer Support and its subsidiaries.
We are governed by a board of trustees who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of company law. The trustees oversee our activities to achieve our objectives and are ultimately responsible for everything we do. Day-to-day responsibility for running the charity is delegated to the Chief Executive, and the Executive Directors who comprise the Executive Strategy Team.
Our supply chain
In Macmillan we work with over 1,200 suppliers (based on our 2023 spend information).
The supplier portfolio is diversified, with a significant percentage of our suppliers dedicated to supporting corporate services. We also have a range of suppliers across marketing, fundraising, sales and IT & telecom services. The remaining suppliers are distributed across various other supplier categories, ensuring comprehensive support for all aspects of our operations. Most of our suppliers are UK based and we have a high ratio of repetitive orders.
As part of our Procurement Transformation Programme we have been developing our supplier onboarding, due diligence and management processes so that the suppliers we work with are taking measures to ensure there is no modern slavery in any aspect of their supply chain.
Our Procurement Policy requires that supplier selection and management processes considerEnvironmental Social Governance (ESG) criteria, including risks related to modern slavery. For spend areas identified as high risk, for example merchandise, we require suppliers to be members of Sedex (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange). This means that the manufacturing sites they use must have regular ethical audits with any corrective action plans implemented and this is reflected in our contracts and supplier management practice.
We are working with sector colleagues to share good practice and common approaches to due diligence in supply chains. We continue to collaborate with counterparts in other charities via the Charity Sector Procurement Group, to gain more insight across the sector practiceOur policies and procedures
We have a range of policies and procedures that contribute to minimising the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking in our organisation and supply chains. They are available on our intranet and are promoted through internal awareness raising programmes such as colleague webinars, internal communications, internal controls and training. These include: Anti Bribery and Corruption policy, Anti Money Laundering policy and Fraud policy - supporting our ability to identify and prevent financial crime and exploitation.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion policy
Our commitment to building a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment for all our employees and volunteers, as well as how we expect to work and treat each other, including the people we support and the people who support us, and third- party contractors and visitors.
Ethics policy
The legal and ethical criteria that we must consider when accepting or refusing donations, or deciding whether Macmillan should be involved with particular individuals or organisations. Its aim is to ensure that our organisational values and ethics underpin all our work.
Grievance policy and Speaking Up Statement on Bullying and Harassment
This encourages employees to speak up about any issues that they have at work. The ‘Speak Up Statement’ helps ensure that all employees are treated, and treat others, with dignity and respect, free from bullying and harassment.
Procurement Policy and Guidance
The procedures for acquiring goods, services, or works for Macmillan. They establish the framework for how procurement activities should be conducted, ensuring transparency, fairness, and accountability in the procurement process. The policy aims to ensure value for money and compliance with any legal and regulatory requirements, while promoting ethical practices and sustainable procurement. The policy and guidance also outline the due diligence process that should be adopted for third party suppliers of which modern slavery is a key component.
Safeguarding policy
Our approach to safeguarding and the actions that employees are required to take in dealing with safeguarding concerns.
Whistleblowing policy
This encourages employees, volunteers and any third party representing Macmillan to report concerns, including any related to modern slavery or trafficking. Members of the public can also raise a whistleblowing concern and our whistleblowing policy is publicly available on our website.
Looking ahead
We will continually improve our processes and controls to identify, mitigate and prevent modern slavery in our operations and supply chain. Key actions planned for 2024 include:
Supplier Due Diligence Improvement
- We will continue to improve our supplier screening process with use of external data sources. The process is intended to proactively identify financial risk and any public filings relating to legal and financial matters, as well as ESG rankings, across our supply base.
- We will review and update our procurement due diligence questionnaire to better identify and prevent risks of modern slavery in our supply chain.
- We will further develop a process to identify higher risk spend areas, as well as developing measures to proactively monitor supplier performance to prevent and identify exploitation and modern slavery in our supply chains.
Supplier Code of Conduct
- We will develop a Supplier Code of Conduct that aligns with the international labour standards set out by the UN International Labour Organisation.
Modern Slavery – Working Group
- We will create a modern slavery working group within Macmillan with representation across different directorates to drive awareness and support collaboration, while continually improving the measures we take to identify and mitigate modern slavery.
This statement is made voluntarily (as Macmillan does not meet the financial threshold at which publishing a statement becomes mandatory) pursuant to s54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 for the financial year ending 31 December 2023.
This statement has been formally approved by the trustees of Macmillan Cancer Support at a board meeting on 22 April 2024 and signed on their behalf:
Richard Murley, Chair
Macmillan Cancer Support
22 April 2024