Modern slavery statement

Modern slavery statement 2025

At the British Red Cross, our vision is of a world where everyone gets the help they need in a crisis. Our mission is to mobilise the power of humanity so that people can prepare for, respond to and recover from crisis. 

As of the beginning of 2025 just over 10,000 regular volunteers and nearly 4,000 staff worked together at the British Red Cross to fulfil our vision and mission, both in the UK and overseas. As a humanitarian organisation, we help people in crisis, whoever and wherever they are. 

We are part of a global network of volunteers, responding to natural disasters, conflicts and individual emergencies. We enable vulnerable people at home and overseas to prepare for and respond to emergencies in their own communities. And when the crisis is over, we help people to recover and move on with their lives.

The British Red Cross is a prominent member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (the Movement). It has volunteers and staff contributing to initiatives within the Movement, which is made up of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and 190 other National Societies. As part of the Movement, the British Red Cross is committed to, and legally bound by, seven fundamental principles that guide everything we do.

The British Red Cross, like other National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, has a special, officially recognised status and role as an auxiliary to the UK public authorities in the humanitarian field. This role applies at all times, both in peace and in war, and gives the British Red Cross a unique legal status. 

It is a private organisation with certain recognised public functions. The British Red Cross is neither part of government nor a non-governmental organisation. The auxiliary status and role are a National Society’s standing invitation to participate in public humanitarian services. This provides a unique opportunity to build a relationship between a National Society and its government. While it is an auxiliary to His Majesty’s Government, the British Red Cross is required to maintain its autonomy so that it can act in accordance with its fundamental principles.

Our anti-slavery commitment

We are committed to recognising and responding to trafficking and other forms of modern slavery, both where we encounter it in our supply chains and as a key element of our service operations. As part of this dual commitment, we support people in crisis through our anti-trafficking work and safeguarding response.

Our Strategy 2030 commits us to restoring safety and dignity for people who are displaced, focusing on the most urgent cases of need. Each year, we support tens of thousands of people through our services across the UK. In 2025, that included 702 adults and children who may have experienced trafficking.

This document fulfils the British Red Cross’ reporting obligation, in line with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 ('the Act'), to provide a slavery and human trafficking statement covering activities for the financial year ending 31 December 2025. 

Building on previous years, we have continued to ensure related policies are updated where necessitated by changes in law or regulation, and where required in order to maintain their review cycle. Where changes to policies or related  guidance material is made, this is socialised with our staff and volunteers. We also continue to monitor compliance with, and relevance of, our anti-trafficking training modules. 

This statement was approved by the board of trustees at its meeting on 29 June 2026.

Sir John Holmes, chair of the board of trustees (on behalf of the board)

Béatrice Butsana-Sita, chief executive officer

Clive MacTavish, chief finance officer (on behalf of Britcross Limited) 

You can also download a PDF of this report.

Our governance structure

The British Red Cross has its head office in London and is governed by a board of trustees whose role and functions are laid out in our Royal Charter and supplemented by standing orders which set out our rules of governance. The board is responsible for agreeing our overall strategic direction and is our highest decision-making body. It ensures that we are effective in working towards achieving our vision, using our resources to maximum effect and upholding our fundamental principles and values.

The board is supported by committees working with delegated authority in specific areas. These include the risk and assurance committee (RAC), which oversees risk management; and the donations acceptance committee (DAC), which is authorised by the board to examine and review offers of donations under the organisation’s ethical framework.

The board works closely with the executive leadership team (ELT), which has delegated responsibility for the day-to-day management of the organisation and is led by the chief executive officer. Together, the board and ELT oversee the implementation of our corporate strategy. This includes managing the governance of the organisation through policies and procedures, which set out a clear framework for our activities and services.

The British Red Cross operates in nine British overseas territories. The Bermuda Red Cross, the Cayman Islands Red Cross, the British Virgin Islands Red Cross and the Turks and Caicos Islands Red Cross are locally incorporated and accounted for as subsidiaries. The Anguilla Red Cross, the Falklands Islands Red Cross, the Gibraltar Red Cross, the Montserrat Red Cross and the St Helena Red Cross are accounted for as branches.

Also included in the group accounts are the accounts of Britcross Limited, a wholly owned trading subsidiary, which donates its trading profits to the British Red Cross. This statement covers all our activities, including those of Britcross Limited.

Our relevant policies

Policies and procedures, and related training, are instrumental to supporting people in crisis, including those experiencing modern slavery and human trafficking. Everyone at the British Red Cross has a responsibility to ensure their areas of work are free from modern slavery and human trafficking. 

The British Red Cross is committed to implementing and maintaining policies and procedures which minimize the risk of modern slavery across our goods and services. In particular, these policies include:

• British Red Cross Code of Conduct: States clearly that we have zero tolerance for any kind of exploitation, abuse or violence. Requires that any breach is reported and provides details on how to do so.
• Raising a Concern Policy and Procedure: Sets out the expectation that our people will speak up when they observe or suspect wrongdoing. Explains the process for reporting concerns, including how to do so anonymously. Reportable concerns include those involving our supply chains and/or any circumstances that may give rise to increased risk of slavery or human trafficking.
• Safeguarding Policy and Procedure: Sets out how we fulfil our obligations and handle concerns about safeguarding children and adults who are (or are at risk of) being abused. This includes risks associated with modern slavery and trafficking, which are cited as two of our key safeguarding concerns.
• Employee handbook: Sets out our expectations for ethical behaviour. It also outlines our commitment to ensuring the effective prevention of slavery and human trafficking in both our supply chains and corporate activities.
• Incident reporting Policy and Procedure: Underpins the framework for the effective reporting of incidents, accidents and near misses to protect our people, resources, operations and those who use our services.
• Procurement Policy and Procedure: Provides a robust due diligence framework, incorporating the Supplier Code of Conduct, to ensure all procurement and purchasing activities are performed in line with our commitment to both ethical purchasing and the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
• Transparency and Accountability Policy: Details how we will publish information on our structure and operations, enhance transparency and enable stakeholders to evaluate our performance in delivering to people in crisis. It includes our commitment to publish our modern slavery statement annually on our website.

Risk assessment and due diligence

The British Red Cross employs a structured approach to procurement to identify and mitigate modern slavery risks. Our procurement operations primarily work with a high proportion of repeat suppliers based in the UK, while our international operations use mainly one-off suppliers through new tenders for each supply requirement. To manage modern slavery risks effectively, our procurement policy applies across all teams.

We also employ a Supplier Code of Conduct, which is a mandatory element of all contracts with suppliers in the UK. This policy mandates adherence to the Modern Slavery Act and proactive measures to prevent modern slavery in supply chains.

By embedding modern slavery risk management into our procurement processes, we reinforce our commitment to ethical sourcing and responsible supply chain oversight.

Training and awareness

The British Red Cross understands clear frameworks will enable our people to respond consistently and appropriately. We have guidance advising them on the ways to log suspicions or actual incidents related to modern slavery using our incident reporting system.

The British Red Cross has a dedicated anti-trafficking capability. This provides advice, training, guidance and capacity building to ensure the organisation safely responds to survivors of trafficking wherever we encounter them in our work. 

In addition, to support our frontline staff we have developed internal anti-trafficking guidance documents aimed at various audiences within our organisation. We keep our guidance documents under active review to ensure they are up to date and address any new needs and emerging trends within the anti-trafficking sector.

Our training includes: an introductory e-module (module one) aimed at all staff and volunteers, on how to identify and respond to potential incidents of modern slavery and trafficking; advanced training (module two) for British Red Cross refugee support teams providing casework support, on how to address the needs of trafficked people and help them navigate very complex systems; and bitesize learning sessions as required, to enable staff and volunteers to better understand trafficking and know how to respond.

International mandatory e-training was launched in 2024 to help learners understand safeguarding in the international humanitarian context and how to apply the 4 Rs: recognise, respect, respond and report.

There is also a movement-wide training module (‘understanding and responding to trafficking in persons’) which aims to increase the ability of Red Cross and Red Crescent staff and volunteers to recognise and respond to trafficking.