Introduction from the Board of Directors:
We are Newcastle United Football Club, a group under the parentage of Newcastle United Limited, and including Newcastle United Football Company Limited. Our head office is at St. James’ Park, Newcastle, United Kingdom (“Club”).
Since taking over the Club in October 2021, the new ownership has continued to make it a priority to ensure that we trade ethically, source responsibly and work to prevent modern slavery and human trafficking throughout our organisation and in our supply chain. We are committed to improving our practices to combat modern slavery and human trafficking in our business and keep our compliance under review.
Our policy on anti-slavery and human trafficking and our commitment to ethical practices applies to all persons working for us and/or on our behalf in any capacity, including employees at all levels, directors, officers, agency workers, seconded workers, volunteers, interns, agents, contractors, external consultants and third-party representatives.
The Club is committed to ensuring there is transparency in our own business consistent with our disclosure obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
This statement is published by the Club in accordance with section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 for the financial year ending 30 June 2023. This Statement describes the Club’s policies, processes, and actions to identify and mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking in its operations and in its supply chains.
Our Business:
Our primary business is as a leading English professional football club affiliated to The Football Association. The Club was founded in 1892 and is a club steeped in history. Our club plays its home matches at St James’ Park Stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne.
In addition to its football operations, the Club has a range of other ancillary business operations related to its core football purpose, such as commercial partnerships/sponsorships, ticketing, retail, sales, merchandising, marketing and multi-media.
Our Supply Chains:
The Club has an extensive supply chain including suppliers of catering services/food/beverages, manufacturers of our licensed products/merchandise, suppliers of IT products and services and suppliers of maintenance services throughout our stadium.
We are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business and we will implement processes to select the most suitable suppliers for our business.
We expect all of our contractors, suppliers and other business partners to comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and maintain the same high standards. Our contractual terms are designed to promote and maintain these high standards.
Our Policies on Slavery and Human Trafficking:
We have appropriate policies in place that underpin our commitment to ensure that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business.
Our anti-slavery 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.
Our policy on anti-slavery and human trafficking and our commitment to ethical practices apply to all persons working for us and/or on our behalf in any capacity, including employees at all levels, directors, officers, agency workers, seconded workers, volunteers, interns, agents, contractors, external consultants and third-party representatives.
Due Diligence:
As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk, we have designed our contractual relationships to include terms providing assurance and commitment to the principles of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, safeguarding of children and adults at risk of harm and commitment to ethical practices.
We have in place systems to:
· Identify and assess potential risk areas in our supply chains.
· Mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our supply chains.
· Monitor potential risk areas in our supply chains.
· Encourage the raising of concerns and to protect whistle blowers.
Supplier Adherence to our Values:
We have zero tolerance to slavery and human trafficking. We are committed to combatting slavery and human trafficking. To ensure all those in our supply chain and contractors comply with our values we have in place a supply chain compliance programme. This consists of commercial checklists, provision of mandatory policies and compliance, and achieving contractual terms which reflect a commitment to our values and compliance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
Training:
To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains and our business, we provide policies, and policy guidance, to our staff.
Commitment and Statement:
Our commitment and approach to developing our strategy to combat modern slavery and human trafficking is led by our Senior Management Team and our Directors.
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 30 June 2023.
Signed by Darren Eales
Chief Executive Officer