MODERN SLAVERY ASSESSMENT TOOL

The Modern Slavery Act is a UK-based leading piece of legislation. It sets out a range of measures on how modern slavery and human trafficking should be dealt with in the UK.

The Act requires companies with a turn over above £36 million to Publish a slavery and human trafficking statement, which is approved by the Board of Directors

The Act also suggests other due diligence processes and procedures that should be implemented. The Act is currently under review and is soon to be revised with an additional tightening of the regulations.

The Modern Slavery Act only currently applies to some companies, and you may be asking why you are being asked to complete a questioner if you are not directly affected by the legislation.

Many larger companies and public sector departments are now starting to implement the next phase of their Modern Slavery Strategies; this includes the assessment of the risk within their own supply chains.

They are therefore making the completion of the Tool a mandatory requirement for new supplier approvals and existing suppliers evaluations.

Some companies are also making the tool scoring system part of their tender evaluation process.

The Government recently published guidance which sets out how the Government expects its departments to take action to ensure modern slavery risks are identified and managed in government supply chains. “The Modern Slavery Procurement Guidance”

The Government’s Modern Slavery Procurement Guidance identifies a number of tools for identifying and managing modern slavery supply chain risks. These include the Modern Slavery Assessment Tool developed by the Government for its own procurement.

However, much of the guidance available is aimed at large companies with staff available to implement these requirements. Smaller companies often struggle to achieve a level of compliance as they are overwhelmed with information. International Associates is able to assist smaller companies in implementing strategies that will improve their MSAT scores in a practical and affordable manner.

The UK government is planning to toughen modern slavery reporting rules following a parliamentary review of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA) and the Home Office Transparency in Supply Chains Consultation that closed in September 2019.

Among other areas, the 2 key changes are likely to include new enforcement and civil penalties for non-compliance and the inclusion of public bodies.