An Overview of the Modern Slavery Act 2015

The provisions of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (“the Act”), which came into force on 26 March 2015, can be found in full here. Note that the majority of the Act’s provisions extend to England and Wales only, but certain provisions also extend to Scotland and Northern Ireland (see section 60 of the Act).

The Act is divided into the following key parts:

• Offences (including penalties and sentencing) under Part 1 of the Act (England and Wales only)
  • Holding another person in slavery or servitude (section 1(1)(a))
    • Maximum penalty: life imprisonment
  • Requiring another person to perform forced or compulsory labour (section 1(1)(b))
    • Maximum penalty: life imprisonment
  • Human trafficking (section 2)
    • Maximum penalty: life imprisonment
  • Committing any offence with the intention of trafficking human beings (including aiding human trafficking) (section 4)
    • Maximum penalty: 10 years in prison. If kidnapping or false imprisonment was involved, the maximum penalty is life imprisonment.
  • Other penalties include: confiscating what the Defendant gained from his crime (section 7); slavery and trafficking reparation orders requiring the Defendant to pay compensation to the victim (sections 8 and 9); and forfeiture of vehicles used in connection with human trafficking (section 11).
• Prevention orders under Part 2 of the Act (England and Wales only) – these are court orders that prohibit a person who has been convicted of a slavery or human trafficking offence (see Schedule 1) from doing acts specified in the order, or require the person to provide their name and address (or any changes) to authorities. Failure to comply with the prohibition amounts to the commission of a criminal offence (s. 30). There are three important cumulative conditions for making a prevention order:
  

  1. The defendant is a relevant offender (e.g. He has been convicted of a slavery or human trafficking offence) – see s. 16 of the Act.
  2. There is a risk that the defendant may commit a slavery or human trafficking offence, and
  3. It is necessary to make the order for the purpose of protecting persons generally, or particular persons, from the physical or psychological harm which would be likely to occur if the defendant committed such an offence.

• Risk orders under part 2 of the Act (England and Wales only), which have the same purpose as prevention orders but concern defendants who have not been convicted of a slavery or human trafficking offence.
• Maritime Enforcement under Part 3 of the Act – This gives powers to English and Welsh enforcement officers and constables to stop and search ships where they have reasonable grounds to suspect that a slavery or human trafficking offence is being committed.
• The Independent Anti-slavery Commissioner under Part 4 of the Act – S. 40 of the Act provides that the Secretary of State will appoint a Commissioner to encourage good practice in the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of slavery and human trafficking offences and the identification of victims of those offences. It will do this through, for instance, making reports or recommendations to the Secretary of State, providing information and education or consulting public authorities and voluntary organisations (s. 41).
• Protection of Victims under Part 5 of the Act (England and Wales only) includes crucial provisions that implement some of the UK’s international obligations to ensure the possibility of non-prosecution of human trafficking victims who have committed an offence (the s. 45 defence). Part 5 also includes provisions on special measures for witnesses, legal aid for victims of slavery, servitude or forced or compulsory labour, a legal obligation on the Secretary of State to issue guidance on the identification of and support for trafficking victims and the legal presumption, before a formal determination, that a person is a child trafficking victim (under 18 years of age) where there are reasonable grounds to believe so.
• Transparency in Supply Chains under Part 6 of the Act – Section 54 is a key provision that imposes a duty on commercial organisations to prepare a slavery and human trafficking statement for each financial year of the organisation. The Secretary of State can make commercial organisations comply with this requirement by bringing civil law proceedings.
• Schedule 1 – This sets out the relevant slavery and human trafficking offences for the purpose of prevention orders (section 14(3) of the Act).
• Schedule 2 – Enforcement powers with respect to ships
• Schedule 3 – This lists the public authorities that are under a duty to co-operate with the Independent Anti-slavery Commissioner
• Schedule 4 – Crucially for trafficking victims who are before the criminal court, this Schedule sets out a list of offences to which section 45 of the Act (the non-prosecution defence) does not apply, including kidnapping, manslaughter, perverting the court of justice and murder.
• Schedule 5 – This concerns minor and consequential amendments relating to other statutes, to ensure coherence with the Modern Slavery Act.