Introduction
Bournemouth Airport’s modern slavery and human trafficking statement is made under Section 54 of The Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA) and outlines steps taken to prevent modern slavery and ensure it does not take place in our business and supply chains.
At Bournemouth Airport we carry out our work in a manner that respects the human rights of others. This means we do not accept any form of forced or involuntary labour, human trafficking, and modern slavery anywhere in our business or supply chain.
Bournemouth Airport is committed to thoroughly investigating and taking swift and robust action in the event that any evidence relating to slavery or human trafficking in our business or supply chain is identified.
Organisation’s Structure
Bournemouth Airport is part of Regional & City Airports (RCA) – one of the UK’s leading regional airport operators. RCA owns Bournemouth, Exeter and Norwich Airports, and operates Solent Airport.
Bournemouth Airport operates exclusively in the highly regulated UK airport sector. All work is carried out in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.
As a well-established business, our relationship with our employees allows a high degree of engagement with senior management, both directly and through recognised trade unions, which would allow concerns over slavery and human trafficking to be raised should they occur.
We reserve the right to terminate supplier contracts where a supplier engages in any activity, practice or conduct that would constitute an offence under sections 1, 2 or 4 of the UK Modern Slavery Act. However, in the first instance we would work with our suppliers to identify the issues and remedy the situation.
We carry out our work in a manner that respects the human rights of others. This means we do not accept any form of forced or involuntary labour, human trafficking and modern slavery anywhere in our business.
Recruitment & Vetting
Our recruitment and vetting processes ensure that we do not employ any victims of modern slavery or human trafficking. We use only specified, reputable employment agencies to source labour and always verify the practices of any new agency before accepting workers from that agency. All direct employees are on full written conditions of employment that have been checked for compliance with the Act.
As a matter of policy, Bournemouth Airport will not pay earnings into an account in the name of any individual other than the employee or into a bank account held outside of the UK. The Directors believe that this significantly reduces the risk of contravention of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
Our policies on slavery and human trafficking
Bournemouth Airport is fully committed to tackling slavery and human trafficking and embraces the principles of transparency that underpins the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
Our Equality & Diversity policy supports this commitment and is intended to address and eliminate discrimination and promote equality of opportunity regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.
We also have an established Whistleblowing policy including a free confidential independent helpline number managed by Safecall. Our whistleblowing channels have not received any reports relating to modern slavery. We promote this through posters across the Airport site.
We provide a wide range of resources for employees to support their mental, physical, and financial wellbeing, and to help limit the likelihood of exploitation during periods of uncertainty and stress. This includes access to the Employee Assistance Programmes and, where needed, access to counselling through our Occupational Health programme.
Training
In the past 12 months we have introduced a compulsory e-learning training module which is part of the onboarding process and has been rolled out to all employees. This training includes:
- how to assess the risk of slavery and human trafficking in relation to various aspects of the business, including resources and support available;
- how to identify the signs of slavery and human trafficking;
- what initial steps should be taken if slavery or human trafficking is suspected;
- how to escalate potential slavery or human trafficking issues to the relevant parties;
- what external help is available, for example through the Modern Slavery Helpline.
An assessment of understanding is carried out at the end of the e-learning module. We monitor the number of completions through our e-learning system.
This training will be continuously reviewed and will be refreshed annually.
Supplier adherence to our values and ethics
We will continue to work to prevent modern slavery and human trafficking within our supply chains by working to influence behaviours within directly contracted organisations. Any failure to address these issues that results in a contravention of the Act, a possible contravention, or a perceived contravention of the Act that could impact the reputation of Bournemouth Airport may be investigated and result in a variety of actions, up to and including removal, from our supply chain, or exclusion from procurement exercises.
We expect all our suppliers to undertake their own due diligence on their supply chains and business partners, and to ensure that any contracts with their sub-contractors have similar obligations. If we have any concerns a full investigation will be carried out and, if appropriate, they will be removed from our supply chain.
Actions taken in the last year
In the last year, we have:
- Established a dedicated Modern Slavery Committee to oversee the Company’s approach to preventing, identifying, and addressing risks of modern slavery and human trafficking across its operations and supply chains.
- Strengthened contractual terms with key suppliers, requiring compliance with the Modern Slavery Act.
- Requested and reviewed Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statements from key suppliers within our supply chain.
- Developed and delivered training to all staff including new starters
Over the next 12 months we will continue to assess key risks to contravention of the Act within our own business, our contractor and equipment/material supply chains. If this identifies areas of concern, we will develop mitigations that we will carry out in future to manage the risk as effectively as possible. Specifically, over the next 12 months we plan to:
- Expand the remit of the Modern Slavery Committee with quarterly meetings and regular reports to the Exec/Board.
- Continue to Refine our supplier onboarding and monitoring process, with a focus on supply chain areas where we see potential risk of modern slavery and continue to explore a systematic approach to enhance transparency and efficiency of our supplier processes
- Develop a supplier audit and monitoring programme, prioritising high risk suppliers and categories
- Develop Modern Slavery awareness materials including bespoke training for all Procurement staff and other employees who work with suppliers.
- Continue to review relevant employment policies to ensure inclusivity and fairness
This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes the Company’s slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 31 March 2026.
Steve Gill, Managing Director
Date: 25 September 2025
