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Human rights and modern slavery

Respecting human rights

At NatWest Group, we understand that businesses have an important role  in promoting respect for human rights. Our approach is informed and guided by internationally recognised human rights standards including the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs).

 

Our first Human Rights Report (PDF, 18 MB), brings together our Human Rights Position Statement (last published in December 2022) and our Salient Human Rights Issues disclosure (published in December 2023). View these documents below in 'Our previous Human Rights reports' section.

The Human Rights Report provides an overview of how we integrate human rights considerations into our policies, procedures, and governance frameworks, and focuses on our management of identified salient human rights issues across our five roles as an employer procurer, retail banker, commercial banker, and investor.

 

Our programme of engagement with various stakeholders including charities, investors and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) continues to help deepen our knowledge and understanding of human rights issues. We remain signatories of the UN Global Compact (UNGC) and continue to adhere to reporting requirements under a range of initiatives, including the Equator Principles.

 

The Human Rights Action Group (HRAG) continues to coordinate our activities to accelerate our work across human rights and modern slavery, and to make recommendations to the NatWest Group Executive Committee and Board to develop and strengthen our approach.

 

We are continually evolving our approach  and our Sustainable Banking team welcome any input or feedback from stakeholders.

Environmental & Social (E&S) Sector Risk Acceptance Criteria (RAC)

We have developed a standalone E&S Human Rights RAC which applies requirements around human rights due diligence to additional sectors with heightened human rights risk not already covered by an E&S RAC. It is in addition to checks undertaken as part of our customer due diligence processes and is also intended to help us capture data over time on concerns mapped to our salient human rights issues to ensure we better understand and address human rights risks. We intend to test, evolve and adapt the scope of our E&S Human Rights RAC to continually improve its effectiveness.

Tackling modern slavery and human trafficking

Despite ongoing efforts across the globe, these harms are often hidden and complex, and are increasing in scale. Recent figures from the UK Home Office highlight just how serious and growing this issue is. In 2025, according to UK Government Home Office data , 23,411 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the Home Office. This is an increase of 22% from the previous year (19,117). 30% of those referred were children, the highest number recorded in the past 16 years.

Our approach to modern slavery and human trafficking is continuously evolving to ensure we keep pace with the changing external environment.

We publish an annual statement which sets out the steps that we are taking to identify and address modern slavery and human trafficking within our own operation and throughout our value chain.

Our current Modern Slavery Statement (year end 2025) can be found below alongside our previous statements:

Our 2025 Annual Report and Accounts outlines progress on sustainability-related matters.

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