SHEL HOLDINGS EUROPE LIMITED modern slavery statement summary (2021)
Organisation address
103 Wigmore Street,
London,
United Kingdom,
W1U 1QS
London,
United Kingdom,
W1U 1QS
We asked the organisation a series of questions about its modern slavery statement. Its answers are published on this page as a statement summary.
This statement provides information for all 6 recommended topics
What is a modern slavery statement?
UK law requires certain organisations to publish an annual modern slavery statement on their website, setting out the steps they are taking to address modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains.
Read more in the government guidance on publishing modern slavery statements.
Link to full statement
Go to full modern slavery statement on organisation’s website
PDF version of the statement (optional)
There is no PDF version of this statement.
PDF statements were first introduced to the registry for the 2023 statement year.
About this statement summary
All answers relate to the financial year covered by the statement. The organisation is responsible for all the information it provided. Some of our questions are optional, so organisations may not have answered all of them. The statement summary does not replace the full modern slavery statement – below we provide a link to the full statement on the organisation’s website.
Contents
- Organisations covered by the statement
- Legal requirement to publish
- Statement period and sign-off details
- Recommended topics covered by the statement
- The organisation’s sectors and turnover
- Number of years producing statements
- Policies
- Training
- Monitoring working conditions
- Modern slavery risks
- Finding indicators of modern slavery
- Demonstrating progress
Organisations covered by the statement
SHEL HOLDINGS EUROPE LIMITED modern slavery statement for 2021 is a group statement covering 6 organisations. See the full list of organisations covered by this statement
Legal requirement to publish
SHEL HOLDINGS EUROPE LIMITED has confirmed it is required to publish a 2021 statement by law.
Statement period and sign-off details
The statement covers the following period:
1 February 2020 to 31 January 2021
The statement was signed off by:
Anne Pitcher (Selfridges Group Managing Director)
It was approved by the board (or equivalent management body) on:
4 May 2021
Recommended topics covered by the statement
Government guidance encourages organisations to cover a range of topics in their modern slavery statements, setting out the steps they’re taking to address modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains. Read about the recommended topics in the statutory guidance.
We asked the organisation to tell us which topics its statement covers.
| Topics recommended by government guidance | Organisation’s response |
|---|---|
| The organisation’s structure, business and supply chains | Covered |
| Policies | Covered |
| Risk assessment | Covered |
| Due diligence (steps to address risk) | Covered |
| Training about modern slavery | Covered |
| Goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of the organisation's actions and progress over time | Covered |
The organisation’s sectors and turnover
Sectors
The organisation operates in the following sectors:
- Consumer services, including accommodation, hospitality, tourism and leisure
- Cosmetics and toiletries
- Durable consumer goods, including electronics and appliances, home furnishings and other accessories
- Fashion, textiles, apparel and luxury goods
- Food and beverages, agriculture and fishing
Turnover
Its turnover in the financial accounting year of this statement was:
Over £500 million
If the organisation is a public body, this amount is based on the organisation’s budget for the year of the statement.
What does 'turnover' refer to in group statements?
If this is a group statement, this includes the total turnover for all the organisations covered by the statement.
Number of years producing statements
The organisation has been producing modern slavery statements for the following number of years:
1 to 5 years
How does this work for group statements?
If the statement is for a group of organisations, this answer applies to the organisation with the longest history of producing statements.
Policies (optional)
We asked the organisation whether its policies include the following provisions in relation to its domestic and international supply chains, as well as its own operations.
| Policy provisions we asked about | Organisation’s response |
|---|---|
| Freedom of workers to terminate employment | Included |
| Freedom of movement | Included |
| Freedom of association | Included |
| Prohibits any threat of violence, harassment and intimidation | Included |
| Prohibits the use of worker-paid recruitment fees | Included |
| Prohibits compulsory overtime | Included |
| Prohibits child labour | Included |
| Prohibits discrimination | Included |
| Prohibits confiscation of workers' original identification documents | Included |
| Provides access to remedy, compensation and justice for victims of modern slavery | Included |
| Other |
Not included
|
Training (optional)
We asked the organisation whether it provided training on modern slavery, and who it was for.
What counts as training?
We explained that by ‘training’ we meant anything designed to increase knowledge and skills around identifying, addressing or preventing modern slavery risks.
This could range from formal training courses to broader awareness-raising activities such as workshops or webinars.
| We asked who the training was for | Organisation’s response |
|---|---|
| Your whole organisation | Yes |
| Your front line staff | No |
| Human resources | No |
| Executive-level staff | No |
| Procurement staff | Yes |
| Your suppliers | Yes |
| The wider community | No |
| Other |
Team members via Stronger Together and contractor induction
|
Monitoring working conditions (optional)
Engaging with others
We asked the organisation to tell us who it engaged with to help monitor working conditions across its operations and supply chains.
| We asked who the organisation engaged with | Organisation’s response |
|---|---|
| Your suppliers | Yes |
| Trade unions or worker representative groups | No |
| Civil society organisations | No |
| Professional auditors | No |
| Workers within your organisation | Yes |
| Workers within your supply chain | Yes |
| Central or local government | No |
| Law enforcement, such as police, GLAA and other local labour market inspectorates | No |
| Businesses in your industry or sector | Yes |
Social audits
We asked the organisation to tell us about any social audits it used to look for signs of modern slavery.
What are social audits?
A social audit is a review of an organisation’s working practices from the point of view of social responsibility, and should include an evaluation of working conditions in the organisation’s operations and supply chains.
By their nature, audits of supplier workplaces represent a snapshot in time.
| Social audits we asked about | Organisation’s response |
|---|---|
| Audit conducted by your staff | No |
| Third party audit arranged by your organisation | No |
| Audit conducted by your supplier’s staff | No |
| Third party audit arranged by your supplier | Yes |
| Announced audit | No |
| Unannounced audit | No |
Grievance mechanisms
We asked the organisation how workers in its operations or supply chains could raise concerns or make complaints.
| We asked if workers could raise concerns this way | Organisation’s response |
|---|---|
| Using anonymous whistleblowing services, such as a helpline or mobile phone app | Yes |
| Through trade unions or other worker representative groups | Yes |
Other ways of monitoring working conditions
We asked the organisation whether it had any other ways of monitoring working conditions across its operations and supply chains:
Organisation’s response
The organisation did not answer this question.
Modern slavery risks (optional)
Warning
Identifying modern slavery risks is a vital step towards eradicating it.
The government encourages organisations to be as open and transparent as possible, to improve understanding, collaboration and best practice around tackling this worldwide problem.
We asked the organisation to describe up to 3 priority risks it focused on during the period of the statement, including details of the affected workers, the activity involved, and the location.
Priority risks for this organisation (1 of 2)
Dangerous working conditions, low wages, and limited enforcement of labour regulations and standards in UK garment industry.
| Questions we asked about this risk | Organisation’s response |
|---|---|
| Where it was most likely to occur |
Organisation’s response:
Within your supply chains.
|
| Who was it most likely to affect | Organisation’s response: No details provided |
| In which country | Organisation’s response: United Kingdom |
| Actions or plans to address this risk | Organisation’s response: The Group businesses target due diligence where risk is higher to workers, as well as where they have greater control and influence (incl. suppliers of own brand products or goods not for resale). Variety of measures: seeking warranties from suppliers, reviewing bespoke or Sedex (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange) Self-Assessment questionnaires, asking questions at tender, reviewing ethical audits, performing desktop reviews of policies and processes, & engaging suppliers in individual discussions. |
Priority risks for this organisation (2 of 2)
Ethnic minorities are exploited and forced to pick cotton in the Xinjiang region.
| Questions we asked about this risk | Organisation’s response |
|---|---|
| Where it was most likely to occur |
Organisation’s response:
Within your supply chains.
|
| Who was it most likely to affect | Organisation’s response: No details provided |
| In which country | Organisation’s response: China |
| Actions or plans to address this risk | Organisation’s response: We are working with our brand partners and suppliers to gain greater visibility of the origin of materials, and to understand the traceability measures they have in place including those relating to cotton as part of our wider due diligence processes. This is aligned with our 2025 materials commitment statements which set out our future mandatory sustainable sourcing standards for key materials used in the products we sell, which include cotton. |
Indicators of forced labour (optional)
We asked the organisation whether its statement refers to finding any International Labour Organization (ILO) indicators of forced labour.
What are ILO indicators of forced labour?
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has produced a list of the most common signs of forced labour.
They’re based on the definition of forced labour as ‘all work or service which is extracted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.’
More details and guidance are available on the ILO website, and in their publication ILO indicators of forced labour
| ILO indicators we asked about | Organisation’s response |
|---|---|
| Abuse of vulnerability | Yes |
| Deception | No |
| Restriction of movement | No |
| Isolation | No |
| Physical and sexual violence | Yes |
| Intimidation and threats | No |
| Retention of identity documents | No |
| Withholding of wages | No |
| Debt bondage | No |
| Abusive working and living conditions | Yes |
| Excessive overtime | No |
| Other |
-
|
Actions taken in response to finding ILO indicators
We asked the organisation to tell us whether its statement refers to any actions it took after finding indicators of forced labour
| Actions we asked about | Organisation’s response |
|---|---|
| Financial remediation, including repayment of recruitment fees | No |
| Change in policy | No |
| Change in training | No |
| Referring potential victims to government services | No |
| Supporting victims via NGO | No |
| Supporting investigations by relevant authorities | No |
| Other |
As soon as we became aware of these potential issues we followed our process set out above to liaise with the individual brand partners in question to urgently understand these situations. We continue to be in dialogue with them as investigations continue,
|
Demonstrating progress (optional)
We asked the organisation how its statement demonstrates progress over time in addressing modern slavery risks.
They provided the following answer:
Monitoring key measures helps us evaluate whether our sustainability approach is effective, directs our future activity, and highlights potential areas of improvement (intend to evolve measures over time). Our businesses report on their sustainability performance internally and to the Head Office each month using sustainability dashboards, including supply chain visibility, non-compliances and brand and supplier engagement. Next year, we will review opportunities to align our monitoring.