Modern Day Slavery – Updated Guidance on Reporting ‘Musts’ and ‘Shoulds’
Larger business should note that the Government has just published an updated version of the Modern Slavery Act Transparency Guidance on reporting – the first update since 2017. The statutory guidance will help businesses comply with their legal requirements for reporting; and assist in implementing best practices - strengthening their overall legal compliance.
By way of reminder, the Modern Slavery Act 2015 introduced radical provisions to protect the vulnerable from exploitation and abuses of power in the corporate world international. The Act introduced offences of slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour and human trafficking.
According to the Home Office, there was a reported 700% increase in modern slavery offences recorded by the police since the year ending June 2016 to 9,694 offences in the year ending June 2023. “Businesses must”, the updated guidance states, “be vigilant to ensure they are not knowingly or unwittingly complicit in this abuse taking place in their operations and global supply chains.”
Companies, including charitable companies, and partnerships with an annual turnover in excess of £36m, are required under section 54 (Transparency in Supply Chains) to publish an annual modern slavery statement. This includes overseas companies with a visible UK presence.
The statement must be up-to-date and visible on your website. The update guidance clarifies the requirements and recommendations under the 2015 Act, for example:
· The Act recommends that businesses make disclosures in their statements on six areas: the business structure and supply chains, organisational policies, assessing and managing risk, due diligence, training and monitoring and evaluation. This is not an actual requirement but the guidance gives more information about these categories, which businesses will find valuable
· Business can, but don’t have to add their statement to the government registry. But note that the guidance goes further and ‘encourages’ companies to do so
· The new guidance provides general principles for undertaking anti-slavery activities and steps organisations can take
· It sets out the international legal frameworks for tackling and reporting modern slavery
· Says organisations should “seek to continuously improve their response to modern slavery”
The guidance is helpful and underscores the importance of taking the right steps to identify and tackle modern slavery in supply chains; and reporting as required and recommended.
In her foreword to the guidance, Jess Phillips (Minister for Safeguarding and Violence against Women and Girls) writes: “The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates there are 27.6 million people (including 3.3 million children) in situations of forced labour on any given day.”
Businesses within the scope of the 2015 Act must play their part in tackling and undermining modern slavery to avoid the risk of prosecution. Always consider taking legal advice from specialist commercial lawyers with modern day slavery expertise.
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