Modern slavery act statement

Statement 2025/26

RCGP is the professional membership body for GPs in the UK. Our purpose is to encourage, foster and maintain the highest possible standards in general medical practice.

We place great importance on our core values which are:

• Compassion – for our patients, the populations we serve, our members, our colleagues and ourselves.
• Inclusivity – we value diversity as part of our community and treat each individual with equal respect.
• Sustainability – we look to the future and care about the long-term wellbeing of our members, our profession, our patients and the world around us.
• Accountability – we take responsibility for the results of our actions and continuously strive to be the best that we can be.
• Integrity – we are honest, open, ethical, just and fair.    

We recognise our responsibility to take all possible steps to tackle modern slavery risks related to our operations and to put in place steps that are aimed at ensuring that there is no slavery or human trafficking in our own business or in our supply chains. 

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes the College's modern slavery statement for the financial year ended 30 March 2025.  

Our structure

RCGP is a charity incorporated by Royal Charter (Charity Commission 223106, Scottish Charity Regulator SC040430).  We have over 55,000 members in the UK and internationally.

The Trustee Board is responsible for the management and administration of the College and delegates operational management to the Executive Management Team. A number of Committees provide scrutiny and assurance of its work as authorised by the Trustee Board in a scheme of delegation. Council sets standards, strategy and policy direction on matters relating to the general practice profession.

RCGP has an infrastructure that supports staff and members wherever they are. As well as headquarters in London, there are national offices in each of the devolved nations.

There are thirty faculties representing local areas across the UK, an additional faculty representing the Republic of Ireland and another for international and overseas members. Each faculty has Officers and are supported by RCGP staff.

We have 3 legal entities:  

• RCGP  
• RCGP Enterprises Ltd  
• RCGP Conferences Ltd 

Assessment of modern slavery risk

RCGP has a Strategy (2023-2026) and Corporate Plan (2025-2028) which set out our key operations. A single Strategic Plan is in development which will cover RCGP's core activities until 30 March 2029.

RCGP considers the overall risk of modern slavery within our direct operations to be low, given that we are a UK based professional membership organisation and do not engage in high risk industries.

However, we recognise that potential risks may exist within elements of our supply chain, particularly in relation to facilities management, cleaning, catering, event delivery, printing, merchandise production, IT services and the use of temporary or agency labour, including where goods or services are sourced internationally.

We keep these risk areas under review and take proportionate steps to mitigate them.

Supply Chain

The Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the Act) is referenced in RCGP’s standard contract and Invitation to Tender (ITT) template documentation. This requires contracted suppliers to abide by the provisions of the Act.

Since November 2016, we have required suppliers appointed via formal tender exercises to follow the Base Code of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI).  They must ensure that they take steps on RCGP's behalf to guard against modern slavery, human trafficking, forced and bonded labour and labour rights violations in the supply chain.

The ETI Base Code is founded on the conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and is an internationally recognised code of labour practice, requiring that:

• Employment is freely chosen;  
• Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are respected;  
• Working conditions are safe and hygienic;  
• Child labour shall not be used;  
• Living wages are paid;  
• Working hours are not excessive;  
• No discrimination is practised;  
• Regular employment is provided; and  
• No harsh or inhumane treatment is allowed.  

We are accredited by the Living Wage Foundation and  require all of our suppliers that have staff working on our sites to be contractually obligated to pay, as a minimum, the Living Wage Foundation’s national living wage, and in London sites the London living wage. 

Training 

 There are four key activities which support our work.

• We have a comprehensive staff induction policy which sets out the standards of behaviour expected of our staff and our values which promote ethical ways of working.  
• We have a safeguarding policy which applies to anyone who works for, or on behalf of, the College, in a paid or unpaid capacity. This includes employees, trustees, volunteers, officers, contractors, agency workers and consultants. 
• We provide guidance to contract managers on ethical procurement practices, including modern slavery and human trafficking. 
• We promote ongoing awareness of our Modern Slavery Statement to staff through publication on our staff intranet site highlighting resources available on the UK Government's Modern Slavery website. 

We have assigned senior management leads responsible for providing advice and guidance to staff reporting concerns about any safeguarding matter, including modern slavery. 

RCGP provides free access to the  RCGP Safeguarding toolkit which contains guidance on Modern Slavery, including how to spot the signs in primary care and how to support victims.  

Additional measures for 2026-27

As part of our commitment to continuous improvement and transparency, we will strengthen contract and supplier management processes in line with new national guidance.

We will review all high-value or high-risk procurement contracts to ensure supplier risk assessments are integrated into all contract award and monitoring activities.

Approval 

This statement was approved by the Trustee Board of the Royal College of General Practitioners on 16/7/2026.