This statement is provided on behalf of Shooting Star Children’s Hospices and its subsidiary companies and charities and is made pursuant to section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (‘the Act’).
Modern Slavery Statement for 2024/25
At Shooting Star Children’s Hospices we are committed to treating all people with dignity and respect, and to ensuring the organisations we work with meet our ethical standards. Slavery and human trafficking are fundamentally contrary to our values and we are committed to ensuring that our organisation and those we work with are free of modern slavery and human trafficking. As such, we recognise and take seriously our responsibility to comply with all principles of the Act.
Our organisation
A charity registered in England, Shooting Star Children’s Hospices cares for babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions, and their families, across west London and Surrey.
Shooting Star Children’s Hospices and its subsidiaries employ around 150 staff, and benefits from the support of 400 volunteers in our hospices and charity shops.
The vast majority of our staff are employed directly by Shooting Star Children’s Hospices and our subsidiaries and are not of an employment status generally considered to be vulnerable to modern slavery in this country. We are not complacent and have robust policies and procedures in place. Our focus, however, is on ensuring that our supply chain complies with the Act, relevant Shooting Star Children’s Hospices policies and procedures, and our ethical standards.
Our supply chain and other relevant settings
Shooting Star Children’s Hospices is committed to improving our practices to identify and eliminate modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains and all other relevant settings, and to act ethically and with integrity in all our stakeholder relationships. Shooting Star Children’s Hospices and our subsidiaries use the products and services we purchase from these suppliers to support our charitable activity and operations and provide products for resale in our charity shops.
Shooting Star Children’s Hospices endeavours to raise awareness among all employees of the identification, prevention and eradication of modern slavery and human trafficking, and has policies and procedures in place to ensure that they can do so. The relevant policies are:
1. Shooting Star Children’s Hospices Procurement Policy and Procedure
requires that suppliers are formally approved by Shooting Star Children’s Hospices Procurement such that they can only provide goods and services after confirming compliance with all applicable regulations and legislation, including the Act.
2. Shooting Star Children’s Hospices Speak-up Safely (whistleblowing) Policy and Procedure
asks staff to confidentially report concerns including modern slavery or human trafficking.
3. Shooting Star Children’s Hospices Safeguarding Policy and Procedures
acknowledges modern slavery as a form of abuse and, where there is a concern about a child (under 18 years) or an adult (18 or over) who needs care and support, this Policy takes effect.
Our staff training framework sets out the knowledge and skills required by those who may meet the victims and survivors of slavery and human trafficking both in the work setting and in homes.
We use a wide range of suppliers who support our operations and provide services at events. We are committed to ensuring that our suppliers share in our high standards and that there is no slavery or human trafficking in our supply chain. We require all our major suppliers to be compliant with the annual reporting requirements contained within section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act.
Our procurement policy requires contractors to adhere to the relevant sections of our safeguarding, health and safety, equal opportunities, and anti-discrimination policies. Should any of our suppliers or sub-contractors fail to meet these standards, we will take action to review or terminate our relationship with them.
Looking ahead
We will continue to review our policies and processes to ensure that they have appropriate and relevant references to modern slavery, and include modern slavery conditions in our tender documents, new supplier forms and other procurement documentation.
Our Senior Management and Trustees take seriously their responsibility in fulfilling these aims and will ensure that the organisation achieves them.
Paul Farthing
Chief Executive Officer