Modern slavery and human trafficking statement
Introduction
This is the modern slavery statement of the Reed Group (“Reed”) covering, in particular, Reed Global Limited (“Reed Global”), Reed Specialist Recruitment Limited and its subsidiary, Reed Staffing Services Limited (referred to together as “Reed Specialist Recruitment”), Reed Online Limited (“Reed Online”), and Reed in Partnership Limited (“Reed in Partnership”).
Reed was founded by Sir Alec Reed in 1960 to provide a range of recruitment related services to both individuals and organisations. Reed is still owned by the Reed family and it is committed to the following values:
- We are fair, open and honest
- We take ownership
- We work together
These values are directly relevant to the issues associated with eradicating modern slavery and Reed is committed to developing and improving its processes to combat slavery and human trafficking.
Structure
Reed Global Limited is the ultimate holding company of the Reed Group, and Reed Specialist Recruitment, Reed Online and Reed in Partnership are its principal subsidiaries. These subsidiary companies operate in the UK, and provide a wide range of recruitment, employment, consultancy, and related services.
Business
Reed Specialist Recruitment
Reed Specialist Recruitment is a specialist provider of permanent, contract, temporary and outsourced recruitment solutions, with over 20 divisions dealing with a wide variety of specialisms, such as finance, technology, education and social care. Reed Specialist Recruitment also provide HR consultancy work, project delivery and screening services.
Reed Online
Reed Online operates Reed.co.uk, a jobs and careers site which provides a full online recruitment service. Reed Online advertises vacancies on behalf of employers and recruitment agencies. Candidates can also upload profiles and CVs and elect to make them available to recruiters through both the Reed.co.uk website and mobile app. Reed.co.uk also offers a wide range of online and distance learning courses, classroom-based courses, and careers advice.
Reed in Partnership
Reed in Partnership provides public service contracts on behalf of government departments and other public bodies (e.g. Department for Work & Pensions, Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency). Reed in Partnership’s public services are designed to (i) support disadvantaged people into sustainable employment; (ii) support people to gain the skills they need to enter and progress in employment; (iii) assist and inspire young people to fulfil their potential; (iv) provide people with access to a range of assessment services; and (v) improve people’s health and wellbeing.
Supply chains
Reed recognises its supply chain as being its most significant risk of modern slavery and therefore prioritises the management of labour in its supply chains, including formal programmes of supplier audits designed to ensure that suppliers are operating ethically and within the scope of UK law.
Reed Specialist Recruitment
Reed Specialist Recruitment’s supply chains are limited to those individuals and organisations which provide Reed Specialist Recruitment with the goods and services needed to operate its business, such as stationery and IT equipment, and other recruitment agencies which may be engaged as support suppliers to clients who outsource the management of their recruitment needs to Reed Specialist Recruitment. Reed Specialist Recruitment has a robust audit schedule of its supply chain to ensure compliance with Home Office regulation and that any umbrella companies utilised are affiliated to the FCSA and are SafeREC approved. Reed Specialist Recruitment is also committed to transparent supply chains through its commitment to the JobsAware initiative.
Reed Online
Reed Online’s supply chains are limited to those individuals and organisations which provide it with the goods and services needed to operate its business, such as stationery and IT equipment. Reed Online now require all suppliers, regardless of spend, to confirm their commitment to abolishing modern slavery.
Reed Online has identified the prevention of fake or misleading job adverts as a priority to manage risk effectively. Reed Online have increased the due diligence this year on all new customers who wish to advertise job vacancies on Reed.co.uk prior to granting access. Reed Online also seeks to ensure that no fake or fraudulent job adverts are posted on its website in order to reduce identity theft and fraud. All of Reed Online’s job adverts have a “Report this Job” function, where jobseekers can flag jobs which are not genuine, which Reed Online then reports to JobsAware. Reed Online regularly trains its staff on the vetting of new customers and how to spot fake jobs. Reed Online also benefits from intelligence sharing from JobsAware.
Reed Specialist Recruitment and Reed Online have continued to see an increase in fraudulent recruiters contacting the public to obtain personal data and/or money under the pretence of finding people work. This is an industry wide issue and Reed have communicated via social media and their websites about these recruitment scams and what people should do if they are targeted. As stated above, Reed Online and Reed Specialist Recruitment work closely with JobsAware to help tackle fake job adverts.
Reed in Partnership
Reed in Partnership’s supply chains are three-fold: (i) Other public service providers to whom elements of the public service contracts delivered by Reed in Partnership are subcontracted. These providers will typically either deliver end-to-end services in a particular geographical area or specific elements of Reed in Partnership’s service. Reed in Partnership completes full due diligence checks before appointing subcontractors and monitors performance throughout the contract; (ii) Reed in Partnership may on occasion utilise specialist call-off provision to complement its in-house delivery; (iii) Those individuals and organisations which provide Reed in Partnership with the goods and services needed to operate, such as stationery and IT equipment.
Policies and due diligence processes for preventing slavery and human trafficking
Reed is committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in its supply chains or in any part of its business. Reed’s Modern Slavery Policy reflects this commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all its business relationships. It also reflects the commitment to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place anywhere in Reed’s supply chains. The policy implements processes to identify, monitor and mitigate risk areas, as well as encouraging reporting and protecting whistle-blowers.
These processes are implemented and monitored by individuals working in Reed’s Compliance, Legal and Human Resources teams.
Certifications
Reed Specialist Recruitment holds a Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) licence. In order to hold a licence Reed Specialist Recruitment must meet the GLAA licensing requirements which cover health and safety, accommodation, pay, transport and training.
In 2025 Reed in Partnership, Reed Specialist Recruitment and Reed Online maintained their Inclusive Employers Standard accreditation. This evidence-based accreditation measures the inclusion and diversity activity within an organisation against six pillars. One pillar in particular focuses on empowering people from under-represented groups.
Reed is also a Living Wage Employer and commits to paying all direct and contract staff the living wage for their region.
Training
To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in its supply chains, Reed has included a training module on modern slavery and human trafficking, completion of which has been made mandatory for all appropriate employees, including all supply chain management across the Group. This training is tailored to include Reed specific procedures.
Effectiveness in combating slavery and human trafficking
Reed keeps its policies and processes under frequent review to ensure compliance with the law and best practice. Each principal subsidiary of Reed has an audit schedule in place to ensure that its effectiveness in eliminating slavery and human trafficking is regularly and consistently tested with escalation routes clearly identified. Since the last statement this audit schedule has continued to operate effectively. In particular, Reed Specialist Recruitment has completed several checks against its temporary work force that focus on identifying common signs of active modern slavery.
Any anomalies are investigated and reported where necessary however the Reed Group did not identify any confirmed cases of modern slavery within its own service, or it’s supply chain in 2025. Reed has introduced key performance indicators (“KPIs”) to assess the effectiveness of its efforts in combating modern slavery. These indicators focus on areas such as training, policy implementation, due diligence, and audit results. In 2025, Reed demonstrated full KPI attainment across all metrics.
Reed has also continued to develop a risk framework which includes monitoring and evaluating modern slavery as a risk across the Reed Group. This risk framework engages at subsidiary level and Group level, ensuring risks are considered and monitored by relevant stakeholders throughout the Reed Group.
Modern slavery prevention aims
Reed will:
- Continue to improve training and awareness by developing and tailoring eLearn and other educational content.
- Continue to develop and manage the Group risk framework which includes monitoring and evaluating modern slavery as a risk across Reed.
- Develop and monitor the effectiveness of the ESG strategy which includes the goal of helping communities prosper, including those most at risk.
- Conduct regular audits of high-risk areas, with periodic reviews to ensure effectiveness at identifying, monitoring and combating modern slavery risk.
Any concerns about this statement or modern slavery can be raised with Reed by email.
This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes the Reed Group’s modern slavery statement for the financial year ending in 2025. This statement has been agreed by the Reed Global Limited Board of Directors on 04/12/2025 and signed on its behalf by a Lewis Crowther, an executive member of the Board.