After the recent scandal surrounding the discovery of UK’s largest modern slavery network, where a gang in the West Midlands was found to have been busing over victims (400) from Poland, on 09 July the UK government announced it would be cracking down harder on corporates over the issue of slavery. Since 2015 large companies in the UK have to publish an annual report detailing their efforts to counter modern slavery, forced labor and human trafficking (c.f. article No. 9173). However the Interior Minister stated that requirements and fines could be made even stricter as the Ministry launched a new consultation that also includes broadening the scope of the legislation to encompass the public sector.
Running from 09 July until 17 September the ‘Transparency in Supply Chains’ consultation signals the government’s intention to tighten its anti-slavery legislation. Companies with more than £36 million in business revenues and which have to publish annual reports on modern slavery will be facing fresh constraints. Firstly, the government intends to make it a requirement that these companies publish certain elements from this report in their official annual reports, in contrast with the current
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