Modern slavery statement

Introduction

Howes Percival LLP is committed to combatting modern slavery and human trafficking within our operations.  This statement sets out our commitment to the UK Modern Slavery Act and the steps taken to eradicate these abhorrent practices. Being “Responsible” is a core part of our strategy.

Structure, Business and Supply Chains

We operate our business from offices in Cambridge, Leicester, Milton Keynes, Manchester, Northampton, Norwich and Oxford.  We provide a range of legal services to businesses and individuals.  

Howes Percival is recognised for having a great ‘values based’ culture and has held an Investors in People accreditation for over 20 years. We are also rated by Best Companies as having 'world class' levels of workplace engagement and ranked 23rd in their Top 100 ‘Best Large Companies to Work For’ and 2nd in their Top 10 ‘Best Large Law Firms to Work For’ categories.

Therefore, in view of our culture, the nature of the services we provide and the fact that we do not provide legal advice outside of the UK we consider our suppliers to be our primary area of focus for the purposes of addressing the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring within our business. We have a broad range of suppliers both in size and in terms of the products and services provided which fall into two main categories:

1. Professional Services Suppliers who are mainly used in the provision of our legal services to our clients, these suppliers include, for example, other law firms, barristers, accountants, tax advisors, insurance providers and external training providers; and
2. Business Support Suppliers who are used to ensure the firm can maintain its normal day-to-day operations, such as catering, cleaning, premises, security, print and document services, IT systems and software.

Risk Assessment and Supplier Due Diligence

We consider that our professional services suppliers present a low risk of modern slavery and human trafficking as they consist of skilled employees who usually work within strict regulatory frameworks.  We consider there is a greater risk of slavery or human trafficking occurring within our business support suppliers.

Although most of the suppliers that we deal with are based in the United Kingdom, some have overseas parent companies and others have international supply chains themselves. It is possible that some of these include jurisdictions where there is a higher risk of modern slavery and/or human trafficking.  We expect our suppliers to be similarly opposed to slavery and human trafficking.

We have in place an Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy and Supplier Guidelines.  These provide circumstances in which we issue our Supplier Questionnaire and Supplier Code of Conduct.  These documents must be completed and returned by our supplier and reviewed by the relevant manager engaging the supplier.

Training and Awareness

We ensure that our policies and procedures (such as our anti-bribery and corruption and whistleblowing policies), where necessary, have regard to modern slavery and human trafficking and ensure that staff know how to raise issues.  

We will provide training and develop awareness, where required, to those responsible for the approval and audit of new and existing suppliers.  

Effectiveness and Performance  

Over the course of the next 12 months we will evaluate the effectiveness of our policies and procedures in ensuring that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in any part of our business or supply chains.  We will implement any further steps required as part of a process of continuous improvement.

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ended 31 March 2025.