UK Modern Slavery Act: Ten years on

Today marks a decade since the once ground-breaking UK Modern Slavery Act (MSA) was written into law. Ten years on, the legislative space for business and human rights has moved on leaps and bounds. ETI welcomes new guidance from the UK government, whilst echoing calls for stronger legislation mandating human rights and environmental due diligence in global supply chains.

The Act was the first of its kind in Europe, and one of the first in the world, to address slavery and trafficking in the 21st century. And yet, while the Act has undoubtedly led to greater awareness and corporate action, gaps remain in its effectiveness, in particular the lack of specific, enforceable obligations and penalties for non-compliance.

To comply with the MSA, businesses who operate in the UK and have a turnover of £36m or more must produce an annual statement on the steps they have taken to address risk and prevent modern slavery in their operations and global supply chains. Yet without enforcement, reporting against the Act has been mixed, with many companies failing to include proper evidence of actual change and leaving workers vulnerable to exploitation.

New guidance

Ahead of the anniversary, ETI was invited to join a multistakeholder consultation on revised guidance aimed at supporting companies to go beyond compliance and improve standards of reporting under the Act. At ETI, we’ve been providing guidance to company members to effectively report against the Act since its implementation. From our modern slavery statement evaluation framework in 2018 to our Corporate Transparency Framework in 2021. We have spent the last decade guiding companies to continuously improve their human rights due diligence and public reporting in this area, in line with UN Guiding Principles, OECD Guidelines and ILO conventions. 

Our advice throughout the consultation period drew on this experience, encouraging alignment with international standards and developing a pathway for business to improve. ETI’s existing statement framework was referenced as good practice by several contributors, and a similarly structured approach to continuous improvement has been adopted for the new guidance. 

The guidance encourages greater transparency, supports the development of outcome (rather than activity) based performance measures, and identifies that businesses can increase their leverage and ability to act through engagement with credible multistakeholder initiatives (such as ETI). Each section is also supported with reference to relevant OECD guidance, enabling a broader corporate approach to addressing human rights risk beyond the confines of modern slavery.

We are also pleased to see clear references in the guidance to the importance of responsible purchasing practices and the role that effective worker representation and freedom of association can play in mitigating risks to workers. This clearly aligns with ETI’s approach and expertise, and we are reassured to note that links to our existing resources have been included to support businesses on these topics. 

Danny Miles, Head of Collective Action, consulted on ETI's behalf:

"This new guidance provides a touchstone for responsible businesses to assess their current level of activity and reporting and take meaningful steps to improve. However, while the MSA was a landmark achievement for its time, today its relevance has waned, and clear improvements are required."

Legislating business and human rights

Human rights due diligence legislation in other countries is continuing to grow. Regulations in the US, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and proposed across the EU place mandatory requirements on companies to conduct human rights due diligence with penalties for failure to comply. 

While the European Commission’s Omnibus proposal threatens to water down the strength and scope of newly adopted directives – the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive - ETI continues to urge European decision-makers to uphold the core principles of their original texts. UK legislation must evolve if it’s to adequately protect people and planet, keep step with the global standards and avoid making the UK a dumping ground for products made from exploitation.