The UK's Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA), which seeks to provide protection against modern slavery, is now a decade old. Recognising the need to keep pace with international developments following recommendations from a House of Lords select committee review last year, the Home Office has now published revised s54 MSA statutory guidance on Transparency in Supply Chains (guidance). 

This guidance applies to commercial organisations operating in the UK with a turnover of £36 million or more. Under s54 MSA such businesses are required to produce a modern slavery statement each financial year setting out the steps they have taken in the most recent financial year to manage modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains. The revised guidance supports this process. 

There are no legal requirements as to the content of a MSA statement; the legal obligation is just that it sets out steps taken, or states that no steps have been taken. This position has not changed. S54 MSA sets out the content that may be included in a modern slavery statement which covers an organisation's structure, supply chains, policies, risk assessments, due diligence processes, staff training and how the process is monitored and evaluated. 

The new TISC guidance – what is new?

The key purpose of s54 is to increase transparency, so that the public, consumers, employees, suppliers, customers, trade unions and investors know what steps an organisation is taking to tackle modern slavery. 

While the legal obligation to publish a modern slavery statement has not changed, there is significantly greater detail on how businesses should comply with 'the letter and the spirit' of s54 MSA in terms of content. It is less compliance focused than previously but is now more comprehensive and focused on concrete actions. The guidance sets out expectations, provides practical advice and detailed suggestions for actions and disclosures to support businesses to undertake meaningful action to tackle modern slavery, incorporating what has been learnt over the last ten years since the MSA was introduced. It also dovetails with relevant international standards.

The guidance now has clear sections on how to produce and publish a statement. Although not a mandatory requirement, it encourages organisations to upload their MSA statements to the government's modern statement registry where they can be viewed by a wider audience. 

The revised guidance also encourages smaller businesses, which do not meet the legal requirement to publish MSA statements, to do so, recognising that they may also be asked by their customers to comply.

…and what has not changed

Despite the additional detail provided to support businesses when considering modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains, the actual content of a MSA statement remains discretionary and the enforcement mechanism is unchanged (whereby the Secretary of State obtains an injunction requiring an organisation to comply). But in any event, a failure to publish an MSA statement, or a statement that an organisation has not taken any steps, may damage the reputation of the business, particularly those with a high public profile, both internally and externally. 

What action should businesses now be taking?

The publication of the revised guidance provides an opportunity to review current progress in taking steps to deal with the risks of modern slavery in both your own organisation and your supply chains and to refresh your approach to the MSA statement itself. This may include taking action to:

• review the new guidance and consider its recommended actions and case studies throughout your supply chain
• identify how these might inform and affect current policies, training, strategy and update if necessary
• incorporate findings into your organisation's MSA statement going forward: this may be more detailed than in the past and is key if a supplier to a public sector organisation
• upload MSA statements to the government registry so demonstrating commitment to tackling modern slavery reaching a wider audience; and 
• even if not in scope to publish a statement, consider producing a statement if near legal threshold for compliance or if part of a supply chain of a larger organisation.

To check whether your organisation needs to comply with the UK's MSA and produce a modern slavery statement, our free assessment tool can be accessed here.

Alternatively if you would like advice in relation to these recent developments, please contact your usual contact in the Employment Group.