Home Office Laying Foundations For Changes

Companies in scope of the UK Modern Slavery Reporting requirements are urged to start planning for the future changes to the modern slavery reporting requirements that the Government is planning to legislate for in the coming months.

The proposed changes include:

• Extending the reporting requirement to public bodies with a budget of £36 million or more.
• Requiring organisations to cover specific reporting topics in their statements. These areas will be based on the reporting areas that are currently recommended in section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
• Requiring organisations to submit their statement to the Government modern slavery statement registry
• Setting a single reporting deadline of 30 September by which statements should be published annually. 
• Introducing financial penalties for organisations which fail to meet their statutory obligations to produce annual modern slavery statements.

In anticipation of the proposed requirements the Home Office has now launched the Modern Slavery Statement Registry and is contacting companies suggesting that they submit their most recently published statement to the registry.   The Home Office has indicated that it sees the function of the register as being bringing “together statements in one place, making it easier for consumers, investors, NGOs and others to search for statements and scrutinise the action organisations are taking to identify and address modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains”.

If you or your business wants to discuss your company’s approach to modern slavery, its reporting obligation and/or compliance with this proposed changes please do not hesitate to contact us.