The Modern Slavery Bill demonstrates the ambition of the UK to be a global leader in combating forced labour. But what effect will this new law really have on supply chain transparency?
The Modern Slavery Bill demonstrates the ambition of the UK to be a global leader in combating forced labour. But what effect will this new law really have on supply chain transparency?
New law condemns modern slavery
The Modern Slavery Bill includes legislation on supply chain transparency. Once the bill is passed, any large company doing business in the UK will need to report on efforts made to ensure that its supply chain is free from slavery.
The revenue threshold hasn’t yet been decided to classify which companies count as ‘large’. However, if the transparency clause was enforced on all companies with a global turnover of £60 million (the same financial threshold set for a similar law in California) it would affect more than 10,000 firms.
Speaking at a Westminster Legal Policy Forum in December, Baroness Butler-Sloss shared her belief that the Modern Slavery Bill will become law by February. If this is the case, major garment retailers may need to give their supply chains a spring clean.
What do you need to do?
Camilla Brown, CEO of our charity partner Unchosen, recently told Segura about the problem of modern day slavery within manufacturing supply chains.
“Forced labour is just as prevalent as sexual exploitation,” she said, “but far less understood and far less publicised.
“With human trafficking, it is easy to polarize between innocent victims and demonised traffickers, but forced labour implies a supply chain role that affects and is affected by the general public.”
In order for any company to ensure there is no slavery within its supply chain, it needs to examine every supplier, and their suppliers too. Only by assessing each and every supplier and subcontractor can a company guarantee that a supply chain is slavery free.
Improving supply chain transparency isn’t an easy task, and many companies need a little help to achieve it. Segura’s supply chain technology effectively and transparently monitors the supply chain process to produce a comprehensive audit trail in real time.
This allows companies to have confidence that their supply chains are being run as they have stipulated. Companies can make decisions based on intelligent information such as price, past performance and product quality, safe in the knowledge that all suppliers are ethically compliant.
What still needs to be done
There are still many questions surrounding the Modern Slavery Bill and it is uncertain how successful the legislation will be.
Firstly, it’s vital that somebody is given the authority to enforce the transparency clause. Klara Skrivankova, Europe programme and advocacy coordinator for Anti-Slavery International, suggested that Kevin Hyland, the new anti-slavery commissioner, be given powers to enforce the clause (his current powers are limited to prosecutions only).
Cindy Berman, head of knowledge and learning at the Ethical Trading Initiative, has also argued that specific requirements need to be set in order for meaningful comparisons to be made. While statutory guidance is currently being produced, businesses will be able to choose what their disclosure includes, and this is likely to differ from company to company.
However, it’s generally agreed that public demand will play a big role in improving supply chain transparency. Camilla contends that there remains “a consumer responsibility to address forced labour,” and a fear of public reprisal may also be a significant driver in the Modern Slavery Bill. “No company in the world wants to be shown as employing slaves,” Hyland told the Financial Times. “Once they know they are being monitored… they will want to have clean supply chains.”
