Human Rights in Retail Breakfast 2025
Last month, the BRC hosted our first Sustainability Community breakfast of 2025 focused on Human Rights in Retail, in partnership with Align Ltd.
The morning provided valuable insights into ethical business practice to ensure the human rights of workers in retailer supply chains, through key regulatory updates from the Home Office and Department for Business and Trade (DBT), industry best practice case studies on human rights due diligence (HRDD), and real-world worker experiences.
You can read a full summary and key takeaways from the morning below.
Update on Modern Slavery Act (MSA) Guidance review
- Our Breakfast coincided with the 10th anniversary of the Modern Slavery Act, introduced as a world-leading piece of legislation at the time in 2015. Ten years has seen global HRDD best practice evolve, with last year’s post-legislative review providing an updated assessment of the Act and recommendations for its improvement.
- Isabel Robinson, Project Research Officer at the Home Office, introduced the revised Section 54 guidance for businesses on how to ensure that modern slavery is not taking place in their supply chains, which requires certain organisations to publish a Modern Slavery Statement annually. Key updates included:
- “Raising the bar” on disclosures: Enhanced explanation of the practical steps for businesses to take, including recommended actions for higher quality disclosures in line with best practice.
- Two tiers of guidance: To provide newer businesses with a clearer path to compliance.
- Emphasising partnership-led working: To increase proactive engagement on HRDD across the supply chain.
Update on Fair Work Agency
- Ed Walkington, Head of State Enforcement in the Employment Rights Directorate at DBT gave an update on the upcoming establishment of the Fair Work Agency (FWA) under the Employment Rights Bill.
- Ed outlined the changes in how rights will be enforced under the single enforcement body, compared to the current Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA):
- The FWA will aim to streamline and expand the scope of employment rights enforcement through new and levelled up powers, and as a broad social partnership spanning government, academia, civil society and industry.
- This is expected to make it easier for workers to report abuses, as well as more widely improving the effectiveness of government in challenging business-level or institutional issues.
- We also heard updates on the next steps for the FWA:
- The Employment Rights Bill is due for its 2nd reading in the House of Lords.
- Ministers, by working with industry, are intending to establish the FWA in the coming “months, not years.” This will happen through a phased approach to bringing together the Agency’s new and expanded powers.
Retailer case study on human rights due diligence practice
- Hannah Bruce, Ethical Trade Specialist at John Lewis Partnership (JLP), provided a retail case study on how JLP is strengthening their human rights due diligence framework.
- We listened to the challenges of conducting HRDD across a complex retail supply chain encompassing thousands of first-tier suppliers, and some key insights into the process:
- A responsible sourcing code of practice and human rights policy establishes the high-level expectation for suppliers from the onset.
- Managing and prioritising risk is as important as prevention and mitigation to remediate incidents that do occur.
- Conducting a human rights impact assessment enables a deeper understanding beyond the first tier of the supply chain.
Align Ltd. interview with worker with lived experience
- Our event partners, Align Ltd’s Director Phillip Clayton interviewed Align Ltd Lived Experience Consultant, Isher, in which we heard about her experience of exploitation in the UK, the systems that failed her, and how consultants such as herself can help organisations to better understand and prevent risks posed to workers.
- To find out more, please contact Phillip Clayton.
BRC: What have we done and what’s next?
The BRC have been supporting our members to raise industry concerns over the lack of progress in protecting the human rights of workers, both in the UK and globally, across a number of areas. You can read more about our recent activity here.
For more information or to join our Ethical Labour mailing list, please contact Sophie De Salis.
