United Response is a charity and private limited company providing care and support to vulnerable people in the UK. As such it is regulated by Companies House and the Charity Commission. This statement details the steps taken to prevent modern slavery within United Response, the parent company, and its wholly owned subsidiary United Response Services Ltd.

The main purpose of United Response Services Limited is to contract to carry out trading activities with local authorities on behalf of United Response. It does not have employees and United Response is its sole supply chain. As such, the governance in place across United Response also applies to United Response Services Ltd where relevant.

The Board of Trustees oversee governance procedures and delegate responsibilities to subordinate committees and the Chief Executive Officer.

The Chief Executive Officer is supported by the Directors’ Team and ongoing delegations of authority are allocated in accordance with the schedule of delegated authorities.

The governance structure and performance are further strengthened by the controls exercised by the HR team as part of the Recruitment and Selection Policy.

The Trustees and Directors’ Team of United Response are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in its supply chains or in any part of the business.

As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk we seek to:

  1. Identify and assess potential risk areas in our supply chains and workforce
  2. Prevent the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring
  3. Monitor potential risk areas in our supply chains
  4. Protect whistle blowers

United Response does not carry out work outside of the UK, nor does it seek to procure employees, supplies or services from outside the EU.

United Response is governed by UK Law and is committed to following the Real Living Wage and ensures that all employees are not paid below the national minimum wage.

United Response also operates a whistleblowing process whereby staff can confidentially report if they have concerns over slavery and trafficking in the workplace. Staff can also seek advice from senior officers should they have any concerns.

As a leading social care provider in the UK, our policies reflect our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our trading relationships.

We recognise that due to the vulnerabilities of some of the people we support they may be at risk of exploitation. We train our staff to be aware of this risk and follow Adult Safeguarding Procedures to ensure that we manage this risk.

We undertake appropriate due diligence with regard to procurement of staff through agencies and other service providers to mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring.

In view of the various checks and balances, the robust procurement mechanism, the whistleblowing process, and also the nature of the work undertaken and staff training, United Response believes that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place within the company or its supply chains.

We will continue to monitor the ways in which we tackle slavery and human trafficking within our sector and to seek to ensure that it does not take place in any part of our business or supply chains.

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes the slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 31 March 2024 for United Response as the parent entity and its wholly owned subsidiary United Response Services Ltd.