UK Modern Slavery Act – are you ready?

Modern Slavery is a serious 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. Modern Slavery victims can often face more than one type of abuse and slavery, for example if they are sold from one trafficker to another and are forced into different forms of exploitation. A person is trafficked if they are brought to or moved around a country by others who threaten, frighten, hurt and force them to do work or other things they do not want to do.

The UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA) requires certain larger companies that carry on business or part of a business in the UK to publish an annual statement setting out what the business has done during the year to combat Modern Slavery both within the business itself and its supply chains. The UK government hopes that by holding businesses to account and increasing transparency, this terrible crime will be exposed and eventually eradicated.

A business may report that it has done nothing, however this is likely to lead to reputational damage as more and more customers and investors wish to work with businesses that have high ethical standards.

PRACTICAL ADVICE: What you can do to be compliant?

• To demonstrate your company’s commitment to eliminating Modern Slavery, adopt a Policy and train all employees on a zero-tolerance approach to Modern Slavery.
• Publish MSA statement on your company website to demonstrate to the market what steps your company taken during the year to mitigate all slavery acts.
• Make sure that all staff is firmly committed to acting ethically and with integrity in all your business dealings and relationships.
• Implement effective systems and controls to ensure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our your business or in any of your supply chains, especially implement mandatory contract clause:

Slavery and Human Trafficking

1.1              The Supplier shall and shall procure that its directors, employees, agents, representatives, contractors or sub-contractors shall comply with all applicable anti-slavery and human trafficking laws, statutes, regulations and codes from time to time in force including, but not limited to, the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015.

1.2              The Supplier shall [comply with the Customer’s anti-slavery policy] OR [have and maintain throughout the term of this agreement its own policies and procedures to ensure its compliance].

1.3              The Supplier shall not engage in any activity, practice or conduct that would constitute an offence under sections 1, 2 or 4 of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 if such activity, practice or conduct were carried out in the UK.

1.4              Breach of this Clause shall entitle the Customer to terminate this Agreement by written notice with immediate effect.