Cascale Better Buying Report for SLCP Shows Steady Industry Progress on Audit Harmonization
Each year, Cascale Better Buying produces a special report for the Social & Labor Convergence Program (SLCP), capturing year-over-year progress on audit harmonization.
Each year, Cascale Better Buying produces a special report for the Social & Labor Convergence Program (SLCP), capturing year-over-year progress on audit harmonization.
In line with previous editions, Better Buying’s 2025 SLCP Win-Win Sustainable Partnership Report offers good news on audit harmonization amid otherwise slow industry progress on purchasing practices overall. An increasing number (92.5 percent, up from 88 percent last year) of suppliers and manufacturers report that buyers are accepting recently completed audits. This is the highest number since Better Buying began collecting data for SLCP, in 2021, an increase of 7 percent in five years. The number of suppliers reporting that their buyers accepted the SLCP Convergence Assessment Framework (CAF) also increased – to 41.5 percent compared to 34.5 percent in 2024. By using available and verified social audits, brands reduce the strain of owned or excessive requests on suppliers.
For some suppliers, this shift translates into tangible savings of up to USD $20,000 per year, with many reporting savings in the range of USD $5,000 to USD $ 10,000. These resources are then reinvested in workplace improvements, worker programs and services, and new technologies that help support more resilient and responsible supply chains.
The analysis is based on data from the Cascale Better Buying Purchasing Practices Index (BBPPI) rating cycle. As part of the Win-Win Sustainable Partnership category, suppliers are asked about the internal alignment of buyers’ corporate social compliance goals and the extent to which buyers contribute to reducing industry-wide audit duplication. The findings are part of the full BBPPI report released last week by Cascale, which tracks performance across seven key purchasing practices categories.
Together, Cascale and SLCP share a longstanding commitment to reducing audit fatigue and improving labor conditions across the industry, by encouraging buyers to accept SLCP data. Audit harmonization is a key component of Cascale’s Decent Work pillar and is identified by manufacturers and suppliers as an important purchasing practice.
