More business leaders believe that modern slavery is occurring within their value chains than when the UK’s pioneering modern slavery legislation was introduced 11 years ago, according to new research. Many executives also believe that legislation needs to be tightened, and that customers and investors should apply greater scrutiny, to improve corporate performance in addressing modern slavery.

The research, conducted by Hult International Business School, found that 87% of executives surveyed suspected that modern slavery is likely to be taking place deep within their supply chains. This compares with 77% in 2016, when Hult undertook a similar study following the passage into law of the UK’s Modern Slavery Act.

That legislation requires organisations to publish a statement, approved by the board, setting out the steps they are taking to ensure modern slavery and human trafficking are not taking place in their operations or supply chains.

While survey respondents agreed that the Act has increased awareness of modern slavery, as well as disclosure and measures to address the issue in some companies, only one-third believe that it has led to a “more consistent level of action” across their industry sector. More than four-fifths said that its penalties for non-compliance are not strong enough, and that it is a weakness that it only mandates disclosure, rather than specific measures.

In the 11 years since the Act was passed, the extent of modern slavery globally has increased. The International Labour Organization estimates that around 50 million people worldwide were living in modern slavery in 2021, of whom 28 million were in forced labour.1  The number of people in modern slavery is rising, the ILO says, with 2.7 million more in forced labour in 2021 compared with 2016.

The Hult research found that 55% of respondents had identified one or more actual or suspected cases of modern slavery within their value chains during the previous three years.

There is strong support among respondents for tightening the UK’s modern slavery regime. Large majorities call for “meaningful penalties for non-compliance” (94%), regulation requiring “mandatory human rights due diligence” (92%) and requirements for organisations to “manage downstream human rights risks”, such as within franchises and investment portfolios (85%).  

However, survey respondents also noted that, alongside tighter regulation, the actions of other stakeholders will be important in encouraging organisational responses to modern slavery.

Specifically, 96% called for collaborative stakeholder engagement within industry sectors to address modern slavery risks across supply chains, while 85% would welcome annually updated industry benchmarks. In addition, 83% said “higher quality investor scrutiny” would be helpful or very helpful.

At CCLA, we publish annual assessments of UK and global listed companies’ modern slavery-related disclosures. We also engage with companies performing most poorly against those assessments. This year’s Global and UK Modern Slavery Benchmarks will be published next month on 8 December.

Corporate Leadership on Modern Slavery: Ten Years On. How have companies responded to the UK Modern Slavery Act after a decade? is based on 38 in-depth interviews with modern slavery specialists across the public and private sectors, and a survey of 57 managers responsible for modern slavery, ethical trade, human rights, procurement, legal compliance and related functions at organisations actively engaged in addressing modern slavery.

The research, which was carried out independently by Hult, was funded by CCLA Investment Management and four members of the Ethical Trading Initiative: Next, Co-op, John Lewis Partnership and Marks & Spencer.

1 ILO (2022), ‘Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage’, online at https://www.ilo.org/publications/major-publications/global-estimates-modern-slavery-forced-labour-and-forced-marriage