Tackling Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking
The Modern Slavery Act 2015 forces UK companies with an annual global turnover of over £36 million to (i) undertake risk assessments of their operations and their supply chains, (ii) put measures in place to fight modern slavery, and (iii) publish a modern slavery statement detailing steps they've taken to identify and prevent modern slavery.
The Modern Slavery Act (MSA) is designed to encourage compliance via the slavery and human trafficking statement, required by companies, under section 54 of this Act. This statement aims to inform consumers, employees, and society about your company's improvements to policies and procedures and supply chain management for eliminating the risk of modern slavery.
Companies are obliged to adopt an incremental approach with continuous improvements to their MSA compliance. Consequently, companies must outline additional actions the company has put in place every year, such as employee training and awareness campaigns, risk assessments and audits, supply chain transparency, etc. If the company fails to take any new steps, they must explicitly state that in their annual statement.
Policy Hub
Measures to prevent modern slavery start with policies on modern slavery and human trafficking, ethical procurement, whistleblowing etc. and a supplier code of conduct.
However, creating these policies is not enough. You need to register with the employees, who must make a personal commitment to act as the eyes and ears of the company in the fight against modern slavery.
Using the Skillcast online Policy Hub, you can ensure that all your employees review and attest to such compliance policies.
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Modern Slavery Training
Anti-slavery and human trafficking policies are not enough by themselves. You also need to educate and engage your staff to enlist their active participation in the fight against modern slavery. With their eyes and ears open, any member of your staff can detect signs of slavery and flag them up to management.
Skillcast Essentials Library includes a full-length Modern Slavery Training course and a Modern Slavery Refresher e-learning course on this topic.
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Staff Surveys
Your employees and managers, who deal with facilities or your supply chain, are an important source of information on the effectiveness of your current measures and the changes you could make that could contribute to the continuous improvement required from your company.
You can use anonymous surveys to uncover employee awareness deficiencies, lack of clarity in policies/procedures, and sources of risk.
Skillcast provides a Compliance Survey Tool to conduct robust, anonymous staff surveys that ensure the widest coverage and enable employees to give feedback to you in confidence.
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Supply Chain Due Diligence
The chances are that your organisation's risk of modern slavery is low because of your ethical hiring and remuneration practices. For most companies, the risk comes from their supply chain, both in the UK and abroad.
An effective way to control this risk is to ask the third parties in your supply chain to complete due diligence questionnaires covering their policies, procedures, training and measures to control the risk of modern slavery.
However, using email or paper-based processes is slow, inefficient and leaves gaps in your risk management. Using online Compliance Declarations ensures that the due diligence is complete on time, any delays or non-conformances are flagged up, and all the records are available for audit at any future date.
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Whistleblowing
Any suspicions or incidents of modern slavery, or any deficiencies in procedures, are best reported through an anonymous whistleblowing register from where the management can deal with them. Given that violence often accompanies modern slavery, your staff may feel unsafe or unable to report it unless they have an anonymous channel for reporting.
Skillcast offers an online Whistleblowing Register that enables your employees to report any suspicion or knowledge of bribery breaches with complete anonymity.
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Free Modern Slavery Resources
Check out our blogs on spotting the signs of modern slavery and the measures to prevent it.
We also offer over 100+ free compliance training aids, including a presentation that you can use to explain modern slavery to your staff and get them thinking about the scale of the problem, the people at risk and our responsibilities.
Modern Slavery Training Presentation
Teach your employees all about The Modern Slavery Act using this presentation highlighting red flags and employee responsibilities.
Modern Slavery Training Module
A bite-sized ten-minute long interactive e-learning module will raise your team's awareness, helping them spot red flags and take the correct action.
Modern Slavery Awareness Poster
Raise awareness of the risk of modern slavery in your office with our poster highlighting the red flags to look out for.
Modern Slavery Statement Template
Create a modern slavery statement for your business based on best practices with this free, editable Word template.
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Best Practices in Modern Slavery
If you'd like to stay up to date with modern slavery best practices, industry insights and key trends across regulatory compliance, digital learning, EdTech, and RegTech news, subscribe to the Skillcast Compliance Bulletin.
Modern Slavery Best Practices
How to write a Modern Slavery Statement
Since 2016, Modern Slavery Statements have been a requirement for all large companies in the UK. We've created a simple checklist for writing yours, including an easy-to-use template.
Top 5 Questions About the Modern Slavery Act
Answers the key questions asked about Modern Slavery. Is it a problem in the UK? What does my business need to do? What should my statement look like?
9 Modern Slavery Controls to Practise in Your Company
How can your business show a genuine commitment to tackling slavery? We have a list of suggested controls to put in place.
Spot the Signs of Modern Slavery in Your Supply Chain
For many of us, this may be happening right under our nose, but without knowing how to identify the red flags, this abhorrent crime could be passing us by unnoticed.
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Online Modern Slavery Support
We have curated a comprehensive list of useful resources to help build your understanding of modern slavery and the regulations stemming from the Modern Slavery Act 2015:
- The Global Slavery Index- Provides a global estimation, country by country, of the number of people victimised by modern slavery today.
- Anti-slavery- This is the world's oldest international human rights organisation whose sole purpose is to abolish slavery in all its forms.
- End Slavery Now- Educational tools with personal stories of the different types of slavery.
- Walk Free- Published theGlobal Slavery Index report; this site encourages you to be a part of the fight against modern slavery by joining their action campaigns.
- Unseen UK- Supporting survivors and potential victims of slavery by providing access to a range of specialist services, enabling them to rebuild their lives safely.
- Modern Slavery Government Collections- This is up to date facts and figures of modern slavery in the UK, along with how to identify the red flags and information on UK-based support services.
- ONS- The UK's recognised national statistical institute brings together data sources linked to modern slavery from various organisations.
- Metropolitan Police- To report a suspicion or seek advice, you can contact the Modern Slavery Helpline confidentially on 08000 121 700. Open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
- Modern Slavery Helpline- Providing victims, the public, statutory agencies and businesses access to information and support on a 24/7 basis.
- Modern Slavery Act 2015- This is the legislation behind modern slavery compliance in the UK.
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