Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement

This statement is made by Manchester United Football Club Limited on behalf of itself, its UK parent undertakings and its subsidiary undertakings (together the “Group”).



About Manchester United



Manchester United is one of the most popular and successful sports teams in the world, playing one of the most popular spectator sports on Earth. Through our 141-year heritage we have won 67 trophies, enabling us to develop one of the world’s leading sports brands and a global community of passionate followers.



Manchester United is dedicated to conducting its business consistent with the highest standards of business ethics. We have an obligation to our employees, shareholders, customers, suppliers, community representatives and other business contacts to be honest, fair and forthright in all of our business activities. In accordance with this ethical approach, we do not tolerate modern slavery or human trafficking in our organisation or in our supply chain.



Our business



We operate and manage our business as a single reporting segment – the operation of a professional sports team. We review our revenue through three principal sectors – Commercial, Broadcasting and Matchday:



• within the commercial revenue sector, we monetise our global brand via three revenue streams: sponsorship; retail, merchandising, apparel & product licensing; and mobile & content;



• we benefit from the distribution and broadcasting of live football content directly from the revenue we receive and indirectly through increased global exposure for our commercial partners. Broadcasting revenue is derived from the centrally negotiated domestic and international television and radio rights to the Premier League, UEFA competitions and other competitions. In addition, our wholly-owned global television channel, MUTV, delivers Manchester United programming to over 90 countries and territories around the world; and



• Old Trafford stadium is one of the world’s iconic sports venues. It currently seats over 75,000 spectators and is the largest football club stadium in the UK. We have averaged over 99% of attendance capacity for our Premier League matches in each of the last 18 years.



At the top of our group structure is a US listed plc, with the remaining majority of our group companies being incorporated in England and Wales.



Our supply chains



Our supply chains include third party suppliers of products/services required for our Commercial, Broadcasting and Matchday operations. These include, amongst others, suppliers of the following products/services:



• Football operations

• Audio-visual equipment/service

• Broadcasting (including production and editing) services

• Catering products and services

• Consultancy services

• Couriers

• Education and training services

• Entertainment

• Financial services

• Food & beverages

• Insurance services

• IT equipment/software/hardware

• Kit and equipment

• Maintenance services

• Marketing/advertising/design services

• Medical Treatment/Supplies

• Merchandise

• Photography

• Pitches-related products and services

• Professional services

• Property management services

• Recruitment services

• Security services

• Travel & accommodation services

• Utilities

• Supplies for our offices and other sundries



We oppose Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking in all its forms



We have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and human trafficking, which forms part of our broader commitment to conduct our business in an ethical and lawful manner. Our commitment to ethical practices is set out in our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics (the “Code”) available via the following link:



https://ir.manutd.com/~/media/Files/M/Manutd-IR/Governance%20Document/code-of-business-conduct-and-ethics.pdf



All our employees are required to act in accordance with the Code as a condition of their employment.



We have established a Risk Committee comprising senior members of Legal & Business Affairs, Finance and Operations. The remit of this committee includes compliance with modern slavery laws. Reporting into this Committee is a senior member of the Legal & Business Affairs team with specific responsibility for our compliance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015.



We have in place robust whistle-blower processes where staff who have concerns about any breach of our codes of conduct may report their concerns on an anonymous basis.



Our safeguarding team



We have an established Safeguarding Team that works across the whole of the club and Manchester United Foundation. Manchester United believes that it is always unacceptable for a child or adult at risk to experience abuse of any kind and recognises its responsibility to safeguard the welfare of all children and adults at risk, by a commitment to practice which protects them. The Safeguarding Team sits within the Group HR team and works within the Premier League Rules and national legislation. Specific safeguarding policies are in place for both children and adults at risk, and these are regularly reviewed.



Across the club there are trained designated safeguarding officers representing different departments. The designated safeguarding officers provide a direct link for all staff and any individual to raise any concern, which are then referred to the Safeguarding Team. There is a robust referral process in place for any form of concern.



The Safeguarding Team works in partnership with statutory agencies across Greater Manchester, including Project Challenger, Greater Manchester Police and Local Area Designated Officers. From this joint working, staff who work directly with children and adults at risk have been provided with appropriate training which covers thematic topics such as an introduction to safeguarding, safer recruitment, child sexual exploitation, E-safety, Prevent (raising awareness about radicalisation), as well as many other courses. Over the last season 600 staff from across the club and MU Foundation have attended training sessions to support an increase in awareness of safeguarding and exploitation issues. The Safeguarding Team represent Manchester United at the Greater Manchester Slavery Business Network.



There is a commitment to joint safeguard working in partnership with other Premier League clubs' Safeguarding Teams, the Premier League and The FA. These partnerships provide further networking, information sharing, training and development opportunities. In addition to receiving support visits from The Premier League, the club and MU Foundation have a 5 day Independent Safeguarding Audit conducted by Barnardo’s per season which includes observations of operations, reviewing case management and interviews with staff, children, adults at risk and parent/carers to ensure that safeguarding is embed throughout the Group in accordance with the Premier League Rules Safeguarding Standards and national legislation compliance.



On matchdays, there is a designated matchday Safeguarding Team. The skill set of the team includes social workers and youth workers who are able to respond to any concerns raised. The Safeguarding Team are deployed by the match day control and are supported if high levels of concerns are identified by the Police. On a seasonal basis the variety of teams that operate on a match day have been observed by local authority safeguarding representatives, the Premier League and Safeguarding Leads from other Premier League clubs. This has provided insight and awareness for the statutory agencies of the scope of the match day operations which has increased their knowledge and supported the sharing of best practice across the game.



Supplier due diligence processes



In furtherance of our commitment to taking a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and human trafficking, we take the following pro-active steps with respect to our supply chains:



1. We require all of our suppliers to make positive written affirmations that: (i) they do not; and (ii) their direct supply chain does not, endorse, enable or facilitate human trafficking or slavery within their business, and we have built this requirement into our new supplier process. All of our suppliers are informed of the fact that we as a business operate a zero tolerance to human trafficking and/or slavery. We expect all those in our supply chain to comply with our values. Failure by an existing supplier to provide the positive affirmations described above will lead to an investigation and may result in that supplier’s contract being terminated. Failure by a potential new supplier to provide requested positive affirmations may disqualify them from becoming a supplier to us.



2. Our standard terms and conditions for suppliers include an express obligation that they comply with applicable anti-slavery and anti-human trafficking legislation.





This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and

constitutes our Group's modern slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 30 June 2019.



Signed on the Board’s behalf for and on behalf of Manchester United Football Club Limited and its Group companies as defined above.







Richard Arnold

Group Managing Director



19 October 2019