More than half of high-risk UK retail firm suppliers do not provide workers with safe or formal ways to report labour issues, according to new analysis.
Sustainability data platform EcoVadis found 56% of high-risk suppliers to UK retail and consumer goods companies provided no formal channels for staff to safely report issues such as unpaid wages, harassment and forced labour.
This was despite 72% of the high-risk suppliers analysed having written human rights policies in place, and only 61% were found to have implemented concrete measures (such as training, whistleblower channels or third-party audits) to back up their commitments.
Moreover, just one in five satisfied Ecovadis’ ‘advanced maturity’ status – defined as having “both a formal policy and at least four worker protection measures in place”.
The analysis drew on assessment data from nearly 3,000 suppliers to UK retail and consumer goods companies from 2023 to 2025, of which 242 were in countries classified as ‘high-risk’ for labour and human rights abuses.
Worker rights expert and EcoVadis senior vice president for human rights, Antoine Heuty, said having a grievance channel on paper was “not enough”.
“A human rights policy is the starting point, not the destination,” he continued. “Our data shows the protections that workers need the most, such as accessible grievance channels, are the weakest precisely in the parts of the supply chain where the risk is the highest.”
Heuty added: “That gap is where due diligence needs to be operational, not aspirational.”
The analysis comes amid growing scrutiny of labour exploitation and human rights issues, after new data showed modern slavery cases identified in the UK reached record levels in 2025. It also arrives as the Department for Business & Trade is reviewing its approach to responsible business conduct in the global supply chains of firms operating in the UK.
However, despite the concern, Ecovadis found that the share of UK retail and consumer goods procurement coming from high-risk countries had risen by 22% in two years.
The organisation said the findings served as a “wake-up call” for retailers to strengthen visibility across their supply chains and ensure that effective, accessible grievance mechanisms were in place at supplier level.
British Retail Consortium sustainability policy executive Lou Sherry said UK retailers were committed to tackling harm to workers across their operations and supply chains and had made strong progress in expanding worker-centred grievance mechanisms.
“However, the evidence clearly shows that systemic barriers remain to implementing effective due diligence processes across all supply chains,” she continued.
Sherry added: “Robust legislation in the UK is essential to move beyond the limits of voluntary action and bring global suppliers in line with industry expectations.
“The BRC and our members have long campaigned for the introduction of Mandatory Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence (mHREDD), and we urge the UK government to commit to mHREDD legislation in its review of responsible business conduct.”
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