The Modern Slavery Act 2015 was to be amended to include obligations for all of the public sector to report on its measures to monitor and eradicate risks of modern slavery and human trafficking. Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights. It takes various forms, such as slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour and human trafficking, all of which have in common the deprivation of a person’s liberty by another in order to exploit them for personal or commercial gain. To tackle these crimes, the Modern Slavery Act 2015 was introduced.
The following definitions are encompassed within the term ‘modern slavery’ for the purposes of the Modern Slavery Act 2015:
- ‘slavery’ is where ownership is exercised over a person
- ‘servitude’ involves the obligation to provide services imposed by coercion
- ‘forced or compulsory labour’ involves work or service extracted from any person under the menace of a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself voluntarily
- ‘human trafficking’ concerns arranging or facilitating the travel of another with a view to exploiting them.
The basis of any reporting should link to your organisation’s Modern Slavery Policy. If you do not currently have a policy in place, then it is advisable that you do so as a priority to ensure that you can evidence that you the support Government’s move to eradicating such treatment of so many people affected by these crimes and also be able to evidence how you are performing against the commitments detailed within your policy.
The following policy is an example and what KFRS are working towards currently: