When passed in 2015, the Modern Slavery Act 2015 was celebrated as being a world-leading piece of legislation aimed to “tackle, prevent and disrupt” modern slavery. Nine years later, that status is in question, as developments worldwide and in the UK in the past nine years have led to the UK falling behind internationally on the tackling of modern slavery.

The Modern Slavery Act 2015 committee has published its report ‘The Modern Slavery Act 2015: becoming world-leading again’. The report found that the UK’s response to modern slavery has not kept up with the advances of other nations.

Since 2015 when the Act came into force, several events have influenced the landscape of modern slavery in the UK, including the impact of Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, and concerns about migration.

New legislation has been introduced in a number of countries to manage exploitation in supply chains. In the UK back in 2022, the Queen’s Speech announced the Government’s intention to bring forward a new Modern Slavery Bill, but this bill was ultimately not introduced to parliament.

Brexit and the negative impact of recent immigration legislation on vulnerable immigrants

LSSI Director and Human Geography Professor Louise Waite, an expert in modern slavery and immigration policy, gave testimony to the House of Lords Modern Slavery Act 2015 Committee on the impact of recent immigration legislation on the MSA. In her evidence, she noted that a trend that had gained momentum from the Brexit referendum was the conflation of modern slavery and immigration. 

Under the Brexit referendum, immigration was put at the top of the political agenda. The past three governments under Johson, Truss and Sunack have all held an anti-immigration stance, which has bled into the modern slavery sphere, and limited the support which the MSA originally afforded to victims.The effects on modern slavery include lessened protections and support for potential modern slavery victims and survivors under several Acts passed in the past few years include the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, the Illegal Migration Act 2023, and The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill. These lessened protections have left victims vulnerable and less able to get help.

Rising exploitation in the care sector

The anti-slavery charity Unseen, which operates a Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline, reported a 606% increase in the number of modern slavery cases in the care sector from 2021 to 2022.

Modern slavery victims in the care sector face a range of issues including being charged expensive recruitment costs by their employer, having their visa threatened, and lacking information about rights under their visa, making them vulnerable to exploitation.

In addition, the labour market enforcement system in the UK involves a wide range of different bodies which work together. This can make it difficult to address exploitation consistently across sectors and keep up with new trends in the crime of modern slavery.

Supply chain issues

The Modern Slavery Act 2015 introduced a requirement for large companies to prepare a slavery and human trafficking statement each financial year.

In 2019, a government consultation resulted in commitments to improve transparency in supply chains by extending requirements to public bodies and requiring statements to be published on a register, but these commitments were not fulfilled.

While the global landscape has been moving towards stricter sustainability reporting and due diligence standards, including recent due diligence legislation in Germany, France, Norway, Canada, and the EU’s CSDDD, the UK has fallen behind.

Recommendations for improvement

The report gave recommendations for improvements in these three areas. 

• Regarding immigration, any government policy and future illegal migration legislation should recognise and address the difference between migrants to come willingly as opposed to those who come because they are victims of human trafficking. The adverse impact of current legislation must be carefully addressed and monitored.
• With regard to care standards, the report concluded that the government should establish an arms-length Single Enforcement Body to ensure stronger compliance with relevant labour rights and standards, or at a minimum, to act as a single point of contact for labour exploitation across all sectors.
• Regarding supply chains, the government should introduce legislation requiring companies meeting the threshold to undertake modern slavery due diligence in their supply chains and to take reasonable steps to address problems. The study recommended that they consult businesses on potential changes and give due consideration to small and medium sized companies’ ability to meet any new requirements.

The modern slavery case backlog

In the meantime, while potential victim referrals to the National Referral Mechanism across English and Wales are soaring, with a record high of 16,996 referrals in 2023, the average wait for a conclusive decision on a modern slavery case from the Home Office is more than 500 days, according to government figures. Some fear that their cases might never get reviewed. 

Recent figures show that more than 23,000 suspected victims, including children, are still waiting for a decision from the Home Office regarding their status. Some of these people have already spent up to four years in a safe house, according to the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner.

In response, the government announced in October that it would work to eliminate a backlog of thousands of modern slavery cases within two years. Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips MP announced earlier this month that she would recruit 200 extra staff to “eliminate” the backlog, saying that the issue was one of her “top priorities”. 

Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner Eleanor Lyons welcomed the ambitious plans but called for more prosecutions. 

“Providing more caseworkers to speed up decision-making is a welcome step in the right direction,” she said.

“But more must be done to make sure victims of modern slavery are protected and that the perpetrators of this crime are prosecuted,” she added.

“That’s why a government strategy is needed to make tackling modern slavery a priority and policy should be informed through listening to survivor voices and experiences,” she said.

Ms Lyons suspects there around 120,000 more people currently being exploited “in every community across the country”.

Suspected victims waiting for their cases to be looked at include a woman who had come from Brazil and was forced to work 24 hours a day without payment and a man originally from the Baltics who earned £10 a day on a construction site where he was made to work up to 12 hours a day, and was subject to psychological and physical abuse.

The Salvation Army, which provides support for adult survivors of modern slavery, welcomed the government’s announcement to tackle the backlog of cases but added that recent immigration legislation including the Nationality and Borders Act (2022) and the Illegal Migration Act (2023) have, in the words of  Major Kathy Betteridge, director of anti-trafficking and modern slavery, “created a climate of fear, where people who have experienced modern slavery cannot trust that they will be treated as victims of crime and given the support they need.” This has led to record numbers of people turning down specialist help.

What comes next?

The House of Lords Modern Slavery Act 2015 Committee made its recommendations for improvement in response to the report on 16 October 2024 and the government now has two months to respond.

Labour has committed to embedding modern slavery protections and tackling human rights and labour abuses in both public and private supply chains with CSRD-style due diligence rules. They have pledged to mandate the use of human rights protection clauses to tackle modern slavery in supply chains. This means that we might soon see new modern slavery legislation that places stricter due diligence on companies.