MSA


Modern Slavery Act

The Modern Slavery Act is a global 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, which came into force on the 29 October 2015, requires many businesses to disclose a ‘slavery and human trafficking statement’.

International Associates have a team of specialists who have been advising both small and large clients on how to manage modern slavery risks in their operations and their supply chains.

Many companies that are required to comply with the Modern Slavery Act are now starting to implement the next phase of their Modern Slavery Strategy, this includes the assessment of the risk to demonstrate due diligence within their own supply chains.

Our team of highly experienced professionals can help your business conduct a modern slavery “Health Check” including undertaking a risk assessment of your supply chain. This could also include a review of your statement, policy, approach to risk, review of existing supply chain management processes, etc., with recommendations for streamlining or improving the risk management of the supply chain due diligence process allowing you to focus on the potential risk areas.

Other MSA Services Avalable:

  • Modern Slavery Health Check
  • Modern Slavery Assessment Tool help
  • Gap Analysis / Risk assessment
  • Action your Improvement Report
  • Develop a compliance strategy
  • Development of policies and procedures
  • Implementation of a full Social Management System
  • SA8000 Certification
  • Training (In house and eLearning)
  • Supply Chain Management, Risk Evaluation and due diligence
  • Supply Chain Management Tool (BRAND)
  • Grieviance and remediation mechanisms
  • Governance, Monitoring, internal auditing and reporting
  • Supplier Audits

Contact us to discuss a bespoke solution to your compliance requirements.

What is the Modern Slavery Act 2015

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 £36million to comply
  • 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.
My company is below the threshold, what will I need to do?

While you may not be directly affected, you may find yourself in the supply chain of a larger company that is.

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 asking their suppliers to clarify what risk mitigation and due diligence you have in place for lower-tier suppliers. And they are also initiating supply chain assessments as part of their supplier approvals and existing suppliers evaluations processes.

Some companies are also making this assessment part of their tender evaluation process.

What can smaller companies do?

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.

Is the legislation going to be updated?

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 and the revised legislation is expected during 2021.

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

Contact Us

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