In April, the BRC hosted a breakfast briefing on human rights due diligence in retail supply chains, in partnership with Ecovadis. The morning covered:
- A policy overview of the state of play for human rights due diligence and enforcement in the UK
- Latest updates from Government on the National Baseline Assessment and review of Responsible Business Conduct, which are due to establish the case and direction for due diligence legislation in the UK
- Expert insight benchmarking the effectiveness of the Modern Slavery Act in driving human rights due diligence (HRDD) across supply chains
- Retailer-led discussions on the state of play for corporate HRDD strategies, gaps in audit-based approaches, and the role of future legislation in driving improvements
Read on for the key takeaways.
Reflections on state of play for human rights due diligence policy
Lou Sherry, Sustainability Policy Executive, BRC
- Business has reached the limits of voluntary and reporting-based regulatory frameworks: As underscored by Government Committee reports*, current legislation to tackle labour abuses in UK supply chains, enshrined in the Modern Slavery Act 2015, has fallen behind international best practice, particularly that of the EU and US.
* from the Joint Committee on Human Rights, Business & Trade Select Committee, Modern Slavery Act Select Committee
- Further legislation is required to drive robust HRDD in line with global market standards and investor expectations: The BRC has called on Government to introduce mandatory Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (mHREDD) legislation and forced labour-linked product import bans as part of the RBC review.
- The Fair Work Agency (FWA) must more comprehensively enforce rights and investigate harms: The FWA has begun work to streamline, strengthen and expand the powers of the previous fragmented state enforcement bodies to investigate serious labour exploitation. The BRC has called for an expansion of the FWA’s scope and powers.
Update on Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) review
Anna Blackmore, Head of Responsible Business Conduct Policy, DBT
- The Government’s review of Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) has aimed to:
- Address business concerns around complexity and compliance
- Strengthen the UK’s overall approach to responsible business conduct and human rights
- Remain mindful of the Government’s ambition to reduce administrative burdens by 25%
- The RBC review focused on five cross-cutting themes:
- Business harms and due diligence processes
- RBC policy complexity and fragmentation
- Improvements in reporting and transparency vs gap between action
- Lack of consistent enforcement and scrutiny
- Fragmentation between UK vs global approaches
- The RBC review is in its concluding stages: Ministers are committed to updating Parliament when the review is concluded. The contents or timeframe for an announcement remain TBC, but the next months are a crucial period for an expected outcome.
Update on National Baseline Assessment (NBA)
Christabel Sadgrove, Head of Business and Human Rights, FCDO
- The National Baseline Assessment (NBA), commissioned by FCDO and undertaken by Nottingham Rights Lab, is an independent report that has sought to evaluate the implementation of the UNGPs by UK Government and businesses, ten years on from when the UK National Action Plan on business and human rights was published in 2016.
- The NBA is focused on assessing UK progress under three key pillars. Indicative key findings include:
- State duty to protect: Substantial legislative gaps create an environment in which business efforts to advance human rights are often limited, and meaningful efforts to address human rights risks and abuses are typically voluntary.
- Business responsibility to respect: Some UK businesses have made meaningful advances in human rights policies in recent years, however policies are often inconsistent and disconnected from HRDD systems. HRDD is particularly hampered by the absence of robust mandatory legal frameworks.
- Access to remedy: Significant practical barriers to accessing remedy exist, with a substantial gap between businesses’ policy commitments and their operational practice.
- The NBA will be published in late Spring and in tandem with the RBC review. Following publication, the FCDO will focus on how the NBA findings can inform evolving policy.
Assessing the effectiveness of the UK Modern Slavery Act (MSA) – 10 years on
Antoine Heuty, Senior Vice President for Human Rights, Ecovadis
- UK suppliers are increasingly sourcing from high-risk geographies: UK high-risk exposure has grown by 22% in two years, at pace with sourcing diversification into emerging markets.
- Yet there is a ‘consistency gap’ between UK vs French FMCG supplier maturity on HRDD: performance drops nearly 2x faster in the UK when moving to high-risk zones, suggesting the MSA’s disclosure model delivers stronger results only where risks are lower and echoing concerns that reporting frameworks alone do not generate systemic improvement.
- The ‘maturity paradox’ reveals the gap between disclosure vs robust HRDD: Whilst 71% of surveyed suppliers have a written policy, only 51% have grievance channels and just 20% have implemented advanced actions.
- Retailers must move ‘beyond the statement’: Businesses must prioritise supplier action rates over statement compliance in procurement due diligence, apply heightened scrutiny to high-risk geographies, and centre the worker in their modern slavery frameworks.
Member discussion: State of play, challenges, and opportunities for corporate HRDD
- Broadening the approach: Whilst audits provide a helpful snapshot, organisations are increasingly looking toward a multi-tooled approach that incorporates direct worker feedback and ongoing human rights impact assessments.
- Navigating regulation: Discussions explored the contrast between UK and EU regulatory frameworks. Attendees highlighted that alignment with EU standards and global best practice, alongside more strongly enforced regulation, could support more scalable due diligence.
- Targeted risk management: Continuous stakeholder engagement and materiality statements were identified as key mechanisms for gaining visibility into the most salient business risks.
- Governance and remediation: Scaling robust due diligence remains a shared industry challenge. The conversation emphasised the value of collaborative efforts between businesses and representative organisations on-the-ground to support remediation efforts.
- Looking ahead: Ten years of the UK MSA highlights that transparency is the foundation, not the finish line. The data suggests an industry shift toward evaluating measurable supplier action alongside policy compliance, with a focus on gaining deeper visibility into high-risk geographies.
- Most importantly, the discussions reinforced that sustainability starts with people. Gathering direct, accessible worker feedback - including the availability of grievance mechanisms in local languages - provides the insight needed to build a more comprehensive modern slavery framework
