Statement for the year ending 31 March 2026
At Wiggin we strive to live our values and be visionary, authentic, unified, responsible and excellent in everything we do.
Applying each of our values, we are committed to legal compliance and ethical business practices in all of our operations, and as part of that we continually seek to improve our practices to combat slavery and human trafficking in all its forms.
Our structure
Wiggin LLP has several group companies, including a branch office in Brussels, and other England and Wales registered entities. Wiggin LLP is registered (registration number OC308767) in and has its head office in England and Wales, and is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA, SRA number 420659).
Wiggin employs approximately 245 lawyers and business management staff and we work with a range of external suppliers.
Our supply chain
As a provider of legal services, our supply chains are relatively straightforward compared to retail or manufacturing businesses, for example. Whilst there is limited risk of association with modern slavery and human trafficking, we recognise the importance of understanding and managing any risks through our supplier network. We engage a wide variety of suppliers for various goods and services. Our main supplier categories include office supplies, facilities, technology and other professional service providers. Although our suppliers are based around the world, most are located in the United Kingdom and Europe. We have implemented and maintain an anti-slavery and human trafficking policy and provide regular mandatory training to all staff raising awareness of modern slavery and human trafficking.
Our aim is to foster long-term relationships with our critical business suppliers, and we are committed to carrying out appropriate due diligence on any current or future suppliers and to strengthening our policies and systems to ensure compliance.
Our policy on anti-slavery and human trafficking
Our anti-slavery and human trafficking policy reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place anywhere in our supply chains. The policy establishes:
- a zero-tolerance approach
- clear expectations for all employees, partners, and suppliers
- reporting mechanisms
In addition to this policy, other relevant policies / documents include:
- Procurement Policy
- Outsourcing Policy
- Whistleblowing Policy
- Equality and Diversity
- Employment contracts
We regularly review and update our policies, and these are ultimately overseen and governed by the Partnership Board.
Due diligence processes for slavery and human trafficking
We have a zero-tolerance policy to slavery and human trafficking. To ensure all those in our supply chain and contractors comply with our values we continue to improve our supply chain compliance programme.
We have a dedicated risk and compliance team, which includes Wiggin’s General Counsel who is a member of the senior management of the firm and the Compliance Officer for Legal Practice. We also have a dedicated procurement function that sits within the risk and compliance team. The procurement function co-ordinates between the compliance, business management, and legal teams where necessary to ensure a thorough review of third parties, whether current or new. The procurement function is responsible for ensuring that the system of onboarding suppliers includes all necessary safeguards and due diligence processes for modern slavery and other compliance regulations. This is done predominately through our third-party risk management platform.
We are partnered with a leading third-party risk management company who provide our third-party risk management platform. This platform along with our policies and practices allows us to:
- have a centralised third-party register where risk can be managed
- use new supplier risk assessments and ratings
- carry out supplier evaluations to ensure our third parties have all necessary provisions regarding slavery and human trafficking
The platform along with our procurement policy is well embedded into the firm and part of our general practices and processes.
Our dedicated procurement manager administers the platform and oversees all third-party due diligence as well as supplier onboarding and modern slavery risk assessments. This demonstrates our commitment to ensuring we comply with our legal requirements regarding anti-slavery and human trafficking.
Assessing and managing risk
As part of the improvement commitments set out in our previous statement, we have introduced an assessment of human trafficking and modern slavery. This was carried out with the senior compliance manager, the procurement manager and has oversight from the Director of Risk and Compliance. This is now embedded in our risk management program. Our assessment was based on the UK Government’s modern slavery assessment tool and looked at key risk areas such as policies, supply chains, training, and KPIs. Our risk was identified as low with some actions identified around measuring KPIs.
Training
We provide regular mandatory training to all our staff regarding modern slavery and human trafficking.
We induct all new staff on our procurement policy and procedures, and other relevant policies as highlighted above. Policies and procedures are held on our intranet and are available at all times.
Further, Wiggin has a set of values that are embedded in the firm’s culture and that our employees are expected to uphold.
Accountability
We require all members, partners, employees, officers, and directors of the firm, to comply with our anti-slavery and human trafficking policy including undertaking training.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
These include:
- all suppliers being considered satisfactory and continuing to demonstrate appropriate efforts to prevent human trafficking and slavery
- training to ensure all existing and new employees are kept up to date
- reviewing any whistleblowing reports made
We are confident that through our processes, staff understand the signs associated with modern slavery and the key contacts in the event they wish to raise any concern.
Further steps
We will:
- Continue to improve our third-party risk management platform through its functionality for users and third parties, including improving our supplier screening process and risk-based assessment of suppliers.
- Continuously improve and revise our policies and procedures to align with our values and applicable law and ensure these are communicated throughout the firm.
- Continue to engage with staff to highlight the risks and issues around modern slavery and human trafficking, embedding a culture of awareness.
- Continue to induct new joiners to the firm on our procurement, modern slavery and third-party onboarding policies and provide continuous training to existing employees.
- Establish a supplier code of conduct that reflects our core values and secures adherence to the Modern Slavery Act 2015 as well as all relevant legal requirements.
- Invest in training and development for those responsible for preventing modern slavery such as the Procurement Manager.
- Strengthen support for the procurement function through training with the compliance team.
- Expand and embed knowledge of the issues and risks around modern slavery and human trafficking to all appropriate staff across the network of offices.
- Regularly review and update our risk assessment of modern slavery and human trafficking.
- Regularly review and strengthen our anti-modern slavery approach to assess its effectiveness and identify opportunities for continuous improvement.
This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our Group’s slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 31 March 2026. It was approved by the Partnership Board on 09 September 2026.
