Since March 2021 it has been possible to upload modern slavery statements to the UK Modern Slavery Statement Registry. An easy compliance win for those who choose to use it, but do you check what information is publicly available after uploading? Recent changes to the Registry and failure to follow relevant steps could result in misleading or inaccurate information being publicly available. Read on to find out more and what you can do to avoid inaccurate information being published.

For many businesses, modern slavery may not be high on their risk register, but it can affect any business, in any sector and across supply chains.  Sectors such as fishing and social care, where workers are often required to pay high recruitment fees to overseas agencies and are subject to restrictive visa conditions, have an increased exposure to modern slavery risks. Common products, like solar panels, garments, and bricks, are recognised as risk products globally. Recent reporting in the BBC this week shows that these remain risk areas in Scotland. Meantime, being able to demonstrate how your organisation manages risks of modern slavery has increasing importance as part of procurement processes and supply chain assurance. Increasingly, consumers, investors, and organisations procuring products are requesting businesses with turnovers below the £36 million threshold to provide information on their exposure to modern slavery risks.

Whilst not a prescriptive requirement of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, voluntarily uploading modern slavery statements to the UK Modern Slavery Statement Registry has been an easy way for businesses to demonstrate their own compliance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and to check on others.

Changes to the Registry were made earlier this year, including:

• a one-off email to relevant registered companies who have not uploaded a statement since the Registry was launched in 2021;
• email reminders to registered companies every year to prompt them to submit their latest annual statement; and
• changes to the statement summary pages on the Registry, showing an assessment of how many of the recommended sections a company has completed in their statement.

Failure to follow the steps around how the Statement is assessed when uploading could create misleading information being publicly available to anyone who may choose to consult the Register, including potential new customers or clients.

Each entry in the Modern Slavery Statement Registry now displays a banner showing what information has been provided for the recommended areas from the Government guidance on Transparency in Supply Chains in each organisation’s statement. The results are colour coded – with statements providing information for all recommended areas showing a green banner reading “provided information for 6 out of 6 recommended areas”. For incomplete statements, the organisation will have a purple banner showing their total.

Whilst there are mandatory questions to be answered as part of the uploading process, the banners are populated based on answers to the “optional” questions.

These questions cover:

• The contents of policies relating to modern slavery.
• To whom modern slavery training was provided.
• The monitoring of working conditions, and reporting of modern slavery risks
• Which modern slavery risks are present, where these risks are most likely to occur, and how the organisation plans to address such risks.
• Whether any indicators of forced labour have been found within the organisation.
• How the statement demonstrates progress in addressing modern slavery risks.

If you choose not to answer the optional questions the banner accompanying your Statement will show that information has been provided for 0 out of the 6 recommended areas. At the very least this may be inaccurate and raise questions; worse it could adversely affect procurement decisions were it regarded as non-compliance or be regarded as indicative of weak risk management.

Many amendments to UK modern slavery compliance have been proposed since the Modern Slavery Act 2015 came into force, but significant change is yet to come. We continue to monitor and report on updates. If you want to prepare or update your modern slavery statement, or for other modern slavery compliance assistance, please get in touch with your usual Burness Paull contact, or a member of our health, safety, and corporate crime team.

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