Modern Salvery Act 2015 comes into force...

The Modern Slavery Act 2015 ("Slavery Act") came into force in October 29th 2015. The UK Government’s aim with this new legislation is to achieve greater transparency in businesses and heighten corporate social responsibility. The objective is that the transparency requirements will encourage organisations to take the issue of modern slavery in supply chains seriously through pressure from consumers, investors and the public and their ability to decide who they should and should not do business with based on ethics. Slavery is defined as servitude and forced or compulsory labour; human trafficking; trafficking for prostitution or trafficking for exploitation.

The Slavery Act will apply to an organisation if: it is incorporated (either a public or private company) or a partnership; the business or part of the business is in the UK; it supplies goods and services. The Act applies to businesses with a global turnover of £36 million or more.

If the Slavery Act applies, your organisation must publish a 'slavery and human trafficking statement' each financial year (the “Statement”). The Statement should be published on the organisations website with a link to a prominent place on the home page, or the organisation doesn’t have a website a copy must be made available to anyone who requests it, within 30 days of receipt of the request.

To go to the Statuatory Guide Transparency in Supply Chains: a practical guide, from gov.uk. The guide provides information on who is required to publish a slavery and human trafficing statement, how to write a statement and how to approve and publish the statement.