Modern slavery statement
Reporting on our work to tackle modern slavery.
Modern slavery statement
At Co-op we have a long-standing commitment to protecting human rights in the UK and overseas. We welcomed the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act in 2015 and are committed to providing an open and honest account of what we’re doing to prevent modern slavery in our supply chains and business. Read more about our approach to ethical trading, and how we work to tackle modern slavery in our food supply chains.
Our modern slavery statement explains what we did during our 2024 financial year to prevent modern slavery taking place in our business and supply chains. It also includes a summary of how we did against our 2024 targets.
Shirine Khoury-Haq CEO, The Co-operative Group
“2024 sadly continued to see tragic global unrest and conflict, creating opportunities for inequality and exploitation and bringing human rights issues to the forefront.
We are a different way of doing business, owned by our members and based on co-operative values and principles created in 1844. These values drive us to work ethically and protect people. And it is for this reason that our members tell us they expect our Co-op to lead in this field.
All human rights matter, there is no place in any business for exploitative practices. Our Co-op has, and will always remain, committed to doing the right thing.
Brave and honest leadership, alongside transparency is key in improving our processes and ways of working. My thanks go out to all of my colleagues for making this possible.
I’m very proud that an independent review of how we manage human rights conducted in 2023 translated into action in all parts of our Co-op during 2024.
The findings demonstrate that our Food business, which is of course our greatest area of risk, leads in this area, driving best practice.
We spent a lot of time during 2024 consulting with colleagues and partners to better understand our approach to pan Co-op human rights risk as well as sharing experience from our Food business.
We found that a more holistic approach is needed across all of our business areas to standardise and advance our approaches in setting the standards we use to assess ourselves in this area – and we have focused on addressing this.
We have also seen real progress in embedding the management of human rights risks into the procurement of goods and services that support our business.
We will never be complacent in this area. We will continue to place human rights first, striving to further improve and protect those who work in or with our Co-op.”
Modern slavery campaigning
We have a long history of addressing social injustice and supporting workers' rights. At our 2017 AGM, our members voted overwhelmingly in support of us campaigning on modern slavery and better victim support.
Since 2016, we’ve been raising awareness and campaigning for better support for victims of modern slavery. We also launched our Bright Future programme, which offers the opportunity of a paid work placement and a job in our food business to those who have been rescued from modern slavery. In 2020, Bright Future became an independent co-operative in its own right, with Co-op as one of the 9 founding members.
Raising awareness of modern slavery
We continue to raise awareness of modern slavery, providing resources to help spot the signs of modern slavery and signposting to the Modern Slavery Helpline.