Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice is committed to preventing modern slavery and human trafficking in all areas of our operations and supply chains. We recognise that children and vulnerable individuals are particularly at risk, and we take our responsibilities seriously in ensuring the highest standards of care, ethics, and human rights.
This statement outlines the steps we have taken and will continue to take to ensure modern slavery does not occur within Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice or our wider supply chain.
About Us
Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice is a charity that provides specialist palliative care services to children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions, and their families. Our services are delivered by a dedicated team of staff and volunteers committed to creating a safe, nurturing, and respectful environment.
Definitions
Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice considers that modern slavery encompasses:
- human trafficking
- forced work, through mental or physical threat
- being owned or controlled by an employer through mental or physical abuse or the threat of abuse
- being dehumanised, treated as a commodity, or being bought or sold as property
- being physically constrained or to have restriction placed on freedom of movement.
Our Commitment
Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice acknowledges its responsibilities in relation to tackling modern slavery and commits to complying with the provisions in the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The Charity understands that this requires an ongoing review of both its internal practices in relation to its labour force and, additionally, its supply chains.
The Charity does not enter into business with any other organisation, in the United Kingdom or abroad, which knowingly supports or is found to involve itself in slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour.
No labour provided to the Charity in the pursuance of the provision of its own services is obtained by means of slavery or human trafficking. The Charity strictly adheres to the minimum standards required in relation to its responsibilities under relevant employment legislation in the United Kingdom and in many cases exceeds those minimums in relation to its employees.
Our Supply Chain
We consider the risk of modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chain to be low, as it is primarily UK-based. We take a risk-based approach to procurement, applying greater scrutiny to higher-risk areas such as clothing, promotional items, and goods sourced from outside the UK or EEA.
Our procurement process ensures value for money and requires suppliers to demonstrate ethical practices, including fair pay, diversity, and awareness of supply chain risks.
We regularly review our practices and suppliers, conduct due diligence, and continue to strengthen our policies to prevent modern slavery and manage supply chain risks effectively.
Our Policies
Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice have a range of policies which further define our stance on modern slavery including;
- Our values – outlining expected behaviours and ethical standards.
- Safeguarding Policy – to protect babies, children, young people, and vulnerable adults from harm and exploitation.
- Whistleblowing Policy – to encourage staff to report concerns about unethical practices, including suspected modern slavery.
- Procurement Policy – requiring suppliers to comply with modern slavery laws and ethical labour practices.
- Safer Recruitment and Onboarding Policy – to ensure compliance with DEI, the promotion of good practices and the application safeguards within our recruitment and onboarding processes.
Due diligence in relation to modern slavery
Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice carries out due diligence processes in relation to ensuring slavery and human trafficking does not take place with the Charity or supply chains, including conducting a review of the controls of its suppliers.
Training
Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice adopts a zero-tolerance stance towards modern slavery and provides training to staff to ensure awareness. The training includes;
- Recognising signs of exploitation or trafficking.
- Understanding how to report concerns safely.
- Reinforcing a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery.
Monitoring and evaluation
We formally audit all our policies and procedures to ensure compliance and effectiveness across the Charity.
Steps
Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice has not, to its knowledge, conducted any business with another organisation which has been found to have involved itself with modern slavery.
In accordance with section 54(4) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the Charity is undertaking the following steps to ensure that modern slavery is not taking place:
- Putting measures in place to identify and assess the potential risks in its supply chains
- Reviewing further actions to be taken to embed a zero-tolerance policy towards modern slavery
- Reviewing further training to provide to staff on modern slavery.
The information included in the statement refers to the financial year 2025/2026.This statement is made in pursuance of s.54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and will be reviewed for each financial year.