Modern Slavery Act

Modern Slavery Statement 2026/27

In accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015, Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust makes the following statement:

Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires organisations to set out the steps they have taken during the financial year to ensure that slavery and human trafficking are not taking place in any part of their business or supply chains.

The aim of this statement is to demonstrate that the Trust has appropriate arrangements in place and is taking all reasonable steps to prevent modern slavery and human trafficking across its operations and supply chains.

Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust provides a comprehensive range of high-quality acute care services. Its workforce of more than 6,200 staff serves a population of over 400,000 people across Wirral, Ellesmere Port, Neston, North Wales and the wider North West. The Trust operates from two main hospital sites, Arrowe Park Hospital in Upton and Clatterbridge Hospital in Bebington, and also provides outpatient services from community locations including St Catherine’s Health Centre in Birkenhead and Victoria Central Health Centre in Wallasey.

The Trust has well-established and robust recruitment and vetting procedures and seeks to ensure that its suppliers operate in accordance with the requirements of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

The Trust has a total non-pay spend of c.£160m on goods, equipment and services. The Trust aims to achieve value for money and promote social value through its contracting and purchasing activity, and the effective use of this spend contributes significantly to the quality of the patient environment and patient care.

The Trust supports the eradication of modern slavery through its procurement procedures and processes and is clear that it expects all potential suppliers to comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015. In addition, the National Health Service (Procurement, Slavery and Human Trafficking) Regulations 2025 require public bodies procuring goods and services for the purposes of the health service in England to assess the risk of modern slavery in their supply chains and to take reasonable and proportionate steps to mitigate that risk throughout the commercial lifecycle, including when designing procurements, awarding contracts and managing contracts.

The Trust recognises that, whilst legislation provides a framework for addressing incidents of modern slavery, there is also an opportunity to use its purchasing power to help prevent, identify and manage these risks within its supply chain by embedding appropriate controls within procurement activity and supplier management.

The Trust has already adopted a number of measures, including:

• the use of public sector frameworks where there is clear oversight of, and monitoring for, modern slavery risk within the supply chain;
• the mandatory exclusion of any bidder convicted of a human trafficking offence, where applicable under procurement legislation; and
• the inclusion of contractual terms and conditions requiring contractors to support the eradication of slavery and human trafficking within their business and supply chains.

The Trust recognises that these measures will continue to be strengthened in line with the regulations and relevant national guidance, including Procurement Policy Note PPN02/23 and Procurement Policy Note PPN009, and to reflect the requirements of the Procurement Act 2023 and the National Health Service (Procurement, Slavery and Human Trafficking) Regulations 2025. This includes ensuring that:

• modern slavery risk is considered early in the procurement process, including through preliminary market engagement where appropriate;
• suppliers and, where relevant, their supply chains are subject to proportionate risk assessment and due diligence;
• the Trust maintains awareness of sector-specific and global modern slavery risks in higher-risk categories of spend;
• enhanced due diligence is undertaken for procurements assessed as higher risk;
• modern slavery risks are actively managed within existing contracts and supplier relationships; and
• procurement staff receive appropriate training so that they can recognise, assess and manage modern slavery risk consistently and effectively.

The Trust’s approach will be monitored and reviewed in line with the provisions of its Procurement Strategy.

The Group Board approved this statement at its meeting on 3 June 2026.

Steve Igoe                                                      Janelle Holmes

Joint Chair                                                      Joint Chief Executive Officer