Ten years ago, the UK Government introduced the Modern Slavery Act. The law aimed to reduce exploitation and to provide avenues for criminal justice. However, while pioneering in its day, weaknesses in the Act’s design seriously hampered its effectiveness. Our Communications Manager, Jessica Turner, provides an overview of the Act’s shortcomings and outlines what we can do to improve the UK’s efforts to tackle slavery.
The Modern Slavery Act has failed to live up to its promise, and we now urgently need to introduce new laws that truly aim to tackle modern slavery. Over the past decade, we have seen newer initiatives to end modern slavery come into force around the world that outpace the UK’s legislation.
The Modern Slavery Act was never designed to eradicate slavery
What’s the problem?
In truth, the Modern Slavery Act wasn’t actually designed to eradicate modern slavery. While many people hoped that this was what the Act could achieve, in reality, it focused on raising awareness and prosecution, with only voluntary reporting for businesses. It was wishful thinking to believe these measures would lead to the eradication of slavery once and for all.
What should we do?
For a long time, we have been calling for stronger laws to address the shortcomings of the Modern Slavery Act. We need to improve prevention systems and drastically improve statutory guidance so that people who have experienced slavery are supported to recover.
What have we said before?
In 2014, before the Act was passed, we said:
“We welcomed the Modern Slavery Bill as an opportunity to introduce modern, robust legislation that could help address slavery and its underlying causes. However, the Bill lacked the necessary provisions to successfully prevent and prosecute modern slavery offences, protect the rights of victims of these crimes and ensure transparency in supply chains of businesses.”
The Modern Slavery Act has proven to be toothless at cleaning up business supply chains
What’s the problem?
The Modern Slavery Act is not fit for purpose in preventing forced labour in business supply chains. That’s because the Act relies on businesses voluntarily reporting their actions in relation to forced labour. But crucially, it doesn’t compel businesses to prevent modern slavery or to act when they find evidence of modern slavery in their supply chain. It’s no surprise, then, that businesses are still profiting from forced labour with impunity.
What should we do?
We need to introduce much stronger laws that would prevent forced labour in supply chains, hold companies accountable for human rights abuses, open up access to justice for victims and level the playing field for businesses. We should also enact laws that prevent goods made with forced labour from being imported to the UK. The EU and the US have introduced more stringent laws than the UK, with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act in the US, and the Forced Labour Regulation and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive in the EU. These laws mean that the UK is being left behind and is at a greater risk of being a dumping ground for products made with forced labour. We cannot let this happen!
What have we said before?
In 2020, our colleagues commented on the scandalous working conditions at Boohoo factories and said: “You should feel shocked about this… Although the poor conditions in suppliers’ factories were widely known for years before the pandemic, Boohoo had taken few steps to ensure proper protection for workers. In fact, it had no legal obligation to do so. Under the 2015 UK Modern Slavery Act Boohoo’s only obligation is to produce a statement reporting on the steps it has taken to prevent modern slavery. Yet, there are no sanctions for not producing a statement…”
Victims and survivors of forced labour in supply chains have no access to justice
What’s the problem?
The Modern Slavery Act never made specific provisions to enable victims and survivors of forced labour to access justice in UK courts if the harm occurred overseas. In practice, this means that businesses can “offshore” their human rights abuses rather than taking legal responsibility in the UK.
What should we do?
We believe that if a company that operates in the UK is implicated in human rights abuses anywhere within its supply chain, the individuals it has harmed should have access to justice in UK courts. We urgently need laws that compel companies to prevent harm in their supply chains and enable workers to access justice swiftly where the prevention measures fail.
What have we said before?
In 2024, nearly three years after a group of migrant workers first launched claims of abuse against Dyson, they were finally given leave to pursue their claim in a UK court. We said:
“We welcome this significant judgment as it sends a strong signal that workers harmed overseas while producing goods for UK companies (profiting from those goods) should be able to seek justice in the UK. But workers should not have to rely on this backstop measure to receive justice.”
The Modern Slavery Act failed to focus on safeguarding
What’s the problem?
Over the past few years, the UK Government has pursued a hostile rhetoric against survivors of modern slavery. This led to the introduction of legislation such as the Nationality and Borders Act and the “Illegal Migration” Act, which have caused harm to survivors of modern slavery. Increasing numbers of survivors have been barred from accessing identification and support, which has made them more vulnerable to re-trafficking and exploitation. The rhetoric that underpinned these laws has made it harder for victims and survivors to come forward and be believed. And when people do, they are more likely to be detained, criminalised, or deported as a result of inconsistently applied safeguards and the absence of secure reporting.
What should we do?
The UK Government has a lot of work to do to restore trust with people with lived experience of slavery. It must shift its focus away from criminal justice and hostile immigration towards safeguarding and compassion for survivors. It must improve prevention and support mechanisms so survivors can access the support they need to recover safely. The UK Government must also confirm in law the UK’s stated commitment to the European Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.
What have we said before?
In 2024, the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group, the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, and the Human Trafficking Foundation published a report, funded by the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre, assessing the impact of the modern slavery provisions introduced by the Nationality and Borders Act 2022. The report found that this legislation is barring an increasing number of survivors from accessing identification and support mechanisms while creating unsustainable pressure on support providers.
Far too many people have been excluded from identification and support
What’s the problem?
The Modern Slavery Act was too narrow in scope, operated in isolation and lacked a focus on identification, support and prevention. It should have been accompanied by labour reform and provisions to uphold migrant rights and prevent discrimination. And while there are safeguards for people who are forced to commit crimes as part of their trafficking experience, this hasn’t been implemented effectively enough.
What should we do?
We need to see drastic improvements to labour rights in the UK and the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) support and identification processes to ensure these are accessible to all survivors. We need to make sure that migrant workers are not excluded from support and that people are not criminalised for actions they were forced to take as part of their exploitation. We need to “undo” the harm caused by the “Illegal Migration” Act and the Nationality and Borders Act.
What have we said before?
In 2018, we pointed to weaknesses in the Modern Slavery Act and supported a new Modern Slavery (Victim Support) Bill proposed by Lord McColl of Dulwich, which aimed to increase victim protections. We said:
“When it comes to protecting the victims and the prevention of slavery, the Act remains weak… The Victim Support Bill is needed to empower the voice of the voiceless.”
So where does that leave us?
There’s a lot to celebrate with 10 years of the Modern Slavery Act. But the UK Government must step up its actions to tackle slavery. We are being left behind by our allies and are at greater risk of being a dumping ground for products made with forced labour. We need the UK Government to take seriously its responsibility to protect people from modern slavery and to hold businesses accountable for failing to prevent harm.
If you agree with us, get involved and sign our petitions today:
Call for a Business, Human Rights and Environment Act
Sign here if you believe that businesses should be compelled to clean up their act.
Ban goods made with forced labour
There’s still time to sign our petition demanding import controls so that the UK doesn’t become a dumping ground for goods made with forced labour