Helping UK SMEs Mitigate Risk of Modern Slavery: Evaluation Report December 2021

17 January 2022

Recognising the lack of targeted anti-slavery resources specifically for SMEs who make up the majority of business in the UK, Shiva Foundation and STOP THE TRAFFIK created a toolkit to support this market.

The free toolkit, which was created and rolled out between March 2020 and October 2021, includes a practical risk assessment tool, advice on how to mitigate risks for direct employees and agency workers, relevant reporting mechanisms, supply chain risk management advice and a wealth of additional free resources.

This evaluation report details the key takeaways and insights from the creation, promotion and reception of the toolkit. Here is a breakdown:

Key successes

• The toolkit has been downloaded over 2,600 times
• 200 people have attended webinars
• A network of over 20,000 SMEs have been reached through 75 directly linked stakeholders
• 7 organisations have embedded the toolkit in their own business offerings
• The toolkit was deemed fit for purpose by webinar attendees

Key learnings

• The toolkit was useful for public sector organisations as well
• Accessibility of the toolkit was important and, as a result,shorter versions were made to accommodate this
• Despite trying to initially focus on business advisory services, there was an appetite from SMEs themselves, so the webinars shifted to build their capacity directly
• It is difficult to get direct feedback from the SMEs who have engaged because of the nature of the webinars (being online and slightly more one way than a workshop)
• COVID-19 set the timeline off, however both organisations stayed committed and the programme has remained a priority despite the challenges and staff turnover.

VIEW THE FULL EVALUATION