TfGM Modern Slavery Statement 2024: Oldham Impact

Oldham's bus, tram and cycle routes are now policed by a tougher anti-slavery rulebook after Transport for Greater Manchester quietly made its suppliers sign legal pledges that they will not use forced labour. The seventh Modern Slavery Statement, signed off in September, means every firm that shared in the £444 million spent last year must prove it pays the Real Living Wage and can be dropped if it fails to clean up its act.

Behind the scenes, TfGM finance staff have been rushing through invoice payments so that cleaners, builders and drivers down the chain get wages faster, a move the authority says lowers the risk of debt bondage during the lingering cost-of-living squeeze. Procurement teams also now run each new tender through the Company Watch Covid Scenario Forecast to spot suppliers whose finances might push them toward labour exploitation.

For passengers, the change is invisible but practical: the same contracts that keep Metrolink trams running and 270 new electric buses on order now carry clauses allowing instant termination if modern-slavery breaches surface. Contractors must show their own sub-contractors are covered, stretching the safeguard into Greater Manchester's second and third-tier factories and depots.

Local firms bidding for future work will find the bar has risen; agreeing to pay the Real Living Wage is becoming a minimum ticket for any deal above the council's regulated threshold. While no cases have been publicised in Oldham, TfGM says it has already demanded action plans from under-performing suppliers and will keep scanning global supply chains for warning signs.