Eastlands Arena Limited Modern Slavery Act Statement for the financial year commencing 1 July 2024 and ending on 30 June 2025, in accordance with s.54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015
Eastlands Arena Limited (referred to as “Co-op Live” “we”, “us”, “our”) are committed to ensuring there is transparency in our business and in our approach throughout our supply chain, pursuant to the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
The purpose of this statement is to set out how we are managing the risk of modern slavery and the steps taken by us to prevent modern slavery taking place in our business and supply chains, pursuant to s.54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
ABOUT US
Co-op Live is a multi-purpose entertainment arena located in Eastlands, Manchester. Our registered office address is located at 1 Sportcity Way, Etihad Campus, Manchester, M11 3DL5 and, on a consolidated basis, Co-op Live has an annual turnover of more than £36m. Co-op Lives financial year end is 30 June.
Co-op Live is wholly owned by Eastlands Arena Holdings Limited. The ultimate majority shareholders of Co-op Live are City Football Group Limited and Oak View Group, LLC.
For more information about Co-op Live, please visit our website https://www.cooplive.com/.
COMMITMENT AND APPROACH
Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights. It takes various forms, such as slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour and human trafficking, all of which have in common the deprivation of a person's liberty by another in order to exploit them for personal or commercial gain.
Everyone in our business has a responsibility to be alert to these risks, however small, both in our business and in our wider supply chain and partnerships. Staff are expected to report any concerns about modern slavery and management are expected to act upon them.
Co-op Live is committed to conducting its business in an ethical and lawful manner and this statement sets out our zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and human trafficking, of any kind. As part of our culture of corporate governance best practice, Co-op Live operates to a set of core values reflecting our relationships with our principal stakeholders, supply chain and partners. We adopt
behavioural values for all business relationships, reflecting our position against the exploitation of individuals, in any form and in particular the offences under the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Our Modern Slavery Policy reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all business relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place anywhere in our business or in our supply chains.
OUR SUPPLY CHAIN AND WORKING PRACTICES
Our supply chain includes securing event, sponsorship and marketing partnerships, the supply of merchandise, uniform and equipment, the procurement and sourcing of a range of services such as security, catering, professional services, IT, consultancy, media, marketing, hospitality and other services relating to a multi-purpose entertainment facility, including sourcing of various products used within our business and at events held within the venue.
As part of our efforts to monitor and reduce the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring within our business and supply chains, we have implemented certain processes, and are continuing to develop new processes, designed to establish, assess and monitor areas of potential risk of slavery and human trafficking, and providing adequate protection for whistle-blowers.
We have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and we expect all those in our supply chain, including contractors, to comply with our values. Our senior management are responsible for compliance with our approach to modern slavery in their respective departments and in their supplier relationships. As part of our approach to identify and mitigate any risk of modern slavery in our supply chain, we prefer to build long-standing relationships with local suppliers and clearly outline our expectations for business behaviour, including our zero-tolerance approach to slavery and human trafficking.
With regards to national or international supply chains, our preferred point of contact is with a UK company or branch and we require these entities to have suitable anti-slavery policies and procedures in place. We expect each entity in our supply chain to adopt due diligence on the next link in the chain.
Our standard contractual terms of business require our counterparties to comply with applicable laws in relation to anti-slavery and human trafficking, to incorporate equivalent terms in their own contractual arrangements, and include an obligation to notify us should they become aware of any slavery or human trafficking in their own supply chains.
EMPLOYEES
We have a variety of policies and procedures in place to ensure compliance with UK employment law.
The Co-op Live People & Culture Team manage recruitment activities and only use reputable employment agencies and job boards to source candidates. We acknowledge the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking arising through our recruitment and therefore operate a robust recruitment process, which includes mandatory DBS checks, references and pre-recruitment right to work checks. The pre-recruitment right to work check is a particularly important risk management tool to enable us to ensure that each individual employed by us has the right to work in the UK and has not been illegally trafficked to the UK.
We aim to employ from within local communities. This is achieved primarily through agencies that specialise in providing temporary labour to the event and entertainment industry. We are aware that there is the possibility of persons being employed through these temporary employment agencies that are open to less robust procedures and we seek to minimise any risk through only working with reputable recruitment agencies and conducting additional checks to ensure all employees are legally able to work and not being exploited. We aim to build long-standing relationships with local suppliers which clearly outline our expectations for business behaviour.
We believe our staff deserve a wage which meets their everyday needs and is why we are an accredited member of the Living Wage Foundation, whereby we voluntarily agree to pay each member of staff a fair wage that is aligned with the cost of living.
Our staff are encouraged to highlight concerns regarding modern slavery that they may have, using the appropriate reporting channels
OUR EFFECTIVENESS IN COMBATING SLAVERY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Co-op Live regularly evaluates the nature and extent of our exposure and risk of modern slavery occurring in the supply chain by maintaining open dialogue with all suppliers and partners.
We use the following key performance indicators to measure how effective we have been to ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in our business or in our supply chain. This includes internal and external audit processes; the monitoring of Human Resource and payroll systems, including the use of preferred employment agencies; having direct communication with our suppliers to ensure their understanding of, and compliance with, our expectations and zero tolerance approach to modern slavery, including human trafficking.
Co-op Live will continue to review and update our polices and procedures in relation to modern slavery and human trafficking.
Approved by the Board of Directors on 24th June 2025.
Signed by
Francesca Leiweke Bodie
For and on behalf of the
Eastlands Arena Limited Board of Directors