L&Q's Modern Slavery statement

About L&Q

L&Q is one of the UK’s leading housing associations and one of London’s largest residential developers, owning or managing 106,321 homes and providing services to around 250,000 residents primarily across London, the South East and North West of England.

As an exempt charity with a strong commitment to social responsibility, we comply with our legal and regulatory responsibilities under the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

As a housing association, developer and supported housing services provider, we recognise that modern slavery risks can arise both within our supply chains and amongst the communities we serve. We work to prevent slavery, human trafficking and exploitation across all areas of our business and supply chains.

Governance and accountability

Our Group Board has overall responsibility for approving this statement and overseeing L&Q’s approach to preventing modern slavery and human trafficking.

Day-to-day accountability sits with the Executive Group, supported by our Procurement, People and Safeguarding teams.

We have established internal oversight through regular reporting, including quarterly safeguarding reports reviewed at senior management level and annually by our Group Board.

Risk assessment

We recognise that the risk of modern slavery varies across our operations and supply chain.

Through our risk management processes we have identified the following areas as presenting the greatest inherent risk:

• Construction and development supply chains
• Agency and temporary labour
• Supported housing services
• Contractors delivering maintenance and facilities management services
• Vulnerable residents who may be at risk of criminal, sexual or labour exploitation, including county lines activity and cuckooing

We adopt a proportionate, risk-based approach to managing these risks through due diligence, safeguarding arrangements, supplier assurance, staff training and ongoing monitoring.

Safeguarding residents

As a landlord, we remain vigilant against all forms of modern slavery affecting our residents, particularly exploitation linked to vulnerability.

We proactively identify residents with vulnerabilities through comprehensive assessments at allocation, regular tenancy verification audits and vulnerability flags. Our Supporting Residents with Additional Needs policy outlines how reasonable adjustments are implemented to safeguard individuals at heightened risk.

We maintain robust training programmes to empower our staff in recognising and responding to safeguarding concerns. All staff complete annual mandatory safeguarding e-learning modules covering adults and children at risk, alongside specialised modern slavery and human trafficking training. Front-line colleagues, including Housing Officers, receive additional classroom training.

Our network of Safeguarding Champions meets monthly to provide continuous guidance, promoting a proactive safeguarding culture.

We closely monitor safeguarding referrals, specifically tracking modern slavery indicators such as cuckooing, forced labour and exploitation through anti-social behaviour. In 2025/26, we recorded a small but significant number of safeguarding cases, including specific instances of cuckooing and county lines exploitation, and continue targeted awareness campaigns in these areas.

Resident and community engagement

We are committed to increasing resident and community awareness of modern slavery through targeted campaigns in areas identified as higher risk, encouraging residents to report concerns promptly.

Employment practices

L&Q has achieved full accreditation from the Living Wage Foundation, guaranteeing that all directly employed staff (excluding apprentices who receive at least the National Living Wage) are paid at or above the real Living Wage rate.

We have an Employee Assistance Programme (Health Assured) and a comprehensive Whistleblowing policy, providing robust support mechanisms for staff to confidentially raise concerns relating to labour conditions, exploitation or coercion.

No concerns regarding labour exploitation or coercion were raised in the past year through whistleblowing or HR channels.

We are exploring opportunities to introduce spot-check audits of recruitment agencies’ pre-employment and right-to-work processes to enhance oversight of temporary staff.

Contracting in supported housing

We are a significant provider of supported housing services, helping to meet the strategic needs of both central and local government departments.

To support this delivery model, we regularly contract with support providers to undertake housing and property management services on our behalf, creating a more seamless and simplified experience for residents receiving support.

While these providers have already been vetted by the commissioner or funding authorities, L&Q also undertakes its own independent due diligence to provide additional assurance. This includes reviewing ethical employment practices and anti-slavery policies, which are subsequently assessed through our audit programme to provide ongoing assurance of compliance.

Procurement and supply chain management

Recognising our supply chain as an area of heightened risk, particularly within construction, we maintain stringent supplier compliance measures.

All works contractors above the procurement threshold must hold Constructionline Gold membership, adhering to the Common Assessment Standard (CAS), which requires demonstration of ethical employment practices, anti-slavery policies and annual reassessments to ensure ongoing compliance. This includes verifying subcontractors’ practices to prevent forced labour, deception, or exploitation.

Procurement contract templates incorporate comprehensive anti-slavery clauses and Living Wage commitments, mandating that all suppliers and subcontractors uphold these standards.

We actively require suppliers to declare their compliance with anti-slavery legislation, maintaining transparent and auditable records of their supply chains.

Our tender process assesses supplier suitability, including exclusion grounds relating to modern slavery offences (where appropriate), and includes contractual obligations requiring suppliers and subcontractors to comply with anti-slavery legislation and ethical employment practices.

Contract management arrangements include ongoing monitoring of higher-risk suppliers through our assurance and audit activities.

Policy framework and compliance

Our approach to modern slavery is supported by internal policies, including our:

• Whistleblowing policy
• Safeguarding policy
• Anti-Bribery, Fraud and Corruption policy
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy
• Recruitment policy
• Procurement policy
• Supplier code of conduct

Performance indicators and effectiveness

We monitor the effectiveness of our anti-slavery practices through defined KPIs, including training completion rates, safeguarding referrals categorised by type and supplier compliance audits.

The effectiveness of these practices is assessed through regular audits and internal reviews, with lessons learned from safeguarding cases, supplier reviews and audits used to strengthen our policies, procedures and controls.

No confirmed instances of modern slavery were identified within our operations or supply chains during 2025/26.

Should any incidents be identified, we are committed to immediate investigation, reporting to the appropriate authorities and supporting victims appropriately.

We actively collaborate with local authorities, law enforcement and other housing associations to share best practice and strengthen collective efforts against modern slavery.

Future initiatives

Our future actions include:

• embedding dedicated category management resource to increase visibility of medium- and high-risk suppliers requiring enhanced risk assessments and assurance of labour practices
• implementing systematic spot-check audits of recruitment agencies supplying temporary staff (where applicable)
• continuing training and awareness campaigns, focusing on high-risk issues such as county lines, cuckooing and forced labour within our properties and supply chains
• regularly reviewing our approach to drive continuous improvement and strengthen protections for workers throughout our supply chain

This statement is made under Section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 31 March 2026.

It applies to London & Quadrant Housing Trust and all entities within the L&Q Group.

The statement is reviewed annually, approved by L&Q’s Group Board and published on the government's Modern slavery statement registry.

Fiona Fletcher-Smith
Group Chief Executive

London & Quadrant Housing Trust subsidiaries

Last updated: October 2026