Looking ahead, as Anti-Slavery Week 2023 concludes

On Wednesday 18th October, HireGenics marked Anti-Slavery Day 2023 and our partnership with Stronger Together – an impact driven, not for profit organisation that provides businesses with practical training, resources, business services and collaborative programmes in order to create a world where all workers are recruited responsibly and have fair work free from exploitation.

This was as part of Anti-Slavery Week 2023, which stood as a powerful reminder of the fight against human trafficking – not least because the fight is an enduring one. However, it also provided an opportunity to shine a light on the persisting threat and hidden nature of modern slavery – with a call to Government, local authorities, businesses, charities and individuals alike to come together in our efforts to raise awareness of, and ultimately eradicate, this odious practice.

In the modern world, slavery can take many forms. It is a complex crime and can include multiple forms of exploitation including servitude, forced and compulsory labour as well as human trafficking. It can affect both adults and children with people of all ages being forced to work against their free will. An added complexity is that sometimes victims may not even perceive that they are being trafficked or exploited and may have consented to elements of their exploitation, or accepted their situation.

The facts, as they stand today, are incredibly stark. In the Global Estimates of Modern Slavery, 2022; ILO, Walk Free, IOM Report, research found that 49.6 million people globally were living in modern slavery on any given day in 2021. Simply put, that is one of every 150 people in the world.

Of this figure, 27.6 million were in forced labour – broken down by 17 million in private sector forced labour, 4 million in state imposed forced labour and 6 million in forced commercial sexual exploitation. There is no denying the scale of the problem is increasing and being further exacerbated by a myriad of global issues and risk factors; including a cost of living crisis, climate change, the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, conflict in many countries leading to global forced displacement, labour shortages and changes to the UK immigration system, to name but a few.

In this same report, it showed that 87% of adult forced labour cases are in the following sectors; services, manufacturing, construction, agriculture and domestic work. Research undertaken by national charity, Unseen, concurs with these statistics. Their Annual Assessment 2022: Working Towards A World Without Slavery Report revealed significant increases in modern slavery have been seen across a number of sectors. The most prevalent industries indicated in labour exploitation situations in 2022 are services (247) – a huge increase in cases of 225%, rising from 76 cases in 2021. Likewise, cases in the construction sector have also risen from 92 in 2021 to 141 in 2022 – a rise of 53%.

Another concerning and notable ‘trend’ in modern slavery and the sectors in which it is becoming more ubiquitous; Unseen’s research showed there has also been a significant increase in potential victims of modern slavery in the care sector. Cases have risen by 606% - from 15 in 2021 to 106 in 2022. In 2022, this spiked again to 106 cases with a 1,024% rise to 708 potential victims.

These statistics are not only sobering but reinforce the fact modern slavery is not an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ issue – but rather something that is hidden in plain sight. Unseen’s research goes onto demonstrate that within the UK, most labour exploitation cases (734) and potential victims (2,815) were indicated in England – equating to 86% of UK cases and 90% of UK potential victims. The number of cases indicated in each UK country increased; in England and Scotland (37) cases more than doubled, cases in Wales (34) nearly tripled and cases in Northern Ireland (12) quadrupled. The report found that the greatest increase in potential victims was in England, with more than three times the number indicated the previous year. In Scotland (138), Wales (94) and Northern Ireland (32) the number of potential victims approximately doubled.

Unseen also investigated the ways in which victims of modern slavery are first introduced to these situations – with recruitment tactics often deployed by potential exploiters to deceive, coerce, encourage and force an individual into undertaking activities or work they otherwise might not do. In the case of criminal exploitation, the most prevalent tactic used is befriending a potential victim (20 cases) followed by false promises or statements (18 cases), then coercion (17 cases) and job offers/advertisement (17 cases).

As discussed earlier, with modern slavery exploiters already taking advantage of global situations of crises, this is further aggravated by other factors contributing to creating circumstances of vulnerability. Such factors include but are not limited to; a major backlog in processing EU Settlement Scheme applications and the Government’s decision in January 2023 to increase the threshold for a ‘reasonable grounds’ decision. With regard to the latter, this change has meant that referrals into the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), the UK’s identification and support system for victims of trafficking or slavery, can only be made by a First Responder, a statutory or voluntary sector organisation designated by Government. This is then followed by two decisions: a Reasonable Grounds, or first stage decision, for which the present threshold is ‘suspect but cannot prove’; the second, or Conclusive Grounds decision, is made on the threshold of ‘balance of probabilities’.

The Home Office has now revised its policy and made clear that decision makers should consider ‘whether it is reasonable in all the circumstances’ to expect supporting evidence or corroborating information. However, this change – even for a relatively short period of time – resulted in serious implications for the identification of survivors of trafficking and modern slavery and their access to support and recovery services. Arguably, evidenced by a recent decrease in the number of referrals made to the NRM. In their Modern Slavery: National Referral Mechanism and Duty to Notify statistics UK, Quarter 2 2023 – April to June Report, NRM stated that from April to June 2023 they received 3,998 referrals of potential victims of modern slavery. This represents a 16% decrease in referrals compared to the preceding quarter (4,739) and a 4% decrease from April to June 2022 (4,161). The number of referrals received is the lowest since January to March 2022, following a record high the previous quarter. In addition, the median time taken from referral for the period of January to March 2023 was recorded at 6 days – and rose to 21 days for the period of April to June that same year.

With all of this in mind and as the world endures increasingly challenging times, the question is ‘what can we do collectively to raise awareness of this global issue and, ultimately, eradicate modern slavery?’

HireGenics is an established and trusted expert in our field and we work within the recruitment industry, in particular in the provision of contractors to end clients (directly or indirectly) for the delivery of services. As such, we are a people business and recognise the importance of preventing slavery in our organisation. We take a zero-tolerance approach to slavery and are committed to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business dealings and relationships.

HireGenics has extensive expertise and knowledge in advising organisations, of all sizes and across all sectors, as to how they can future-proof their supply chains. This includes taking the following steps:

-????????? Decide as an organisation where you stand from a business and cultural perspective, in the context of the legal and commercial environment in which you operate. Consider the expectations of your key external and internal stakeholder and critical questions that could be asked about your business and supply chain.

-????????? Conduct supplier due diligence. Map out your supply chain, tracking as many tiers of the chain as possible. Ask your suppliers to provide a copy of their Modern Slavery statement, enquire into their operations and conduct robust, regular audits on those that fall into high-risk categories.

-????????? Introduce or review existing workplace modern slavery policies and codes of conduct, both within your own organisation and relating to suppliers, to ensure they reflect current and future best practice – and can potentially identify areas in which further training may be required.

-????????? Appoint a modern day slavery champion/s in your organisation. Even one person can make a difference if you encourage them to raise awareness, empower them to drive change forward and ensure they have the necessary resources (for example, information, training and capacity).

-????????? Engagement and communication is key. Ensure you are delivering clear key messages, both internally and externally, surrounding modern slavery and how all can be aligned to detect and mitigate this.

Although it is impossible to anticipate all the risks that your organisation and supply chain might face in the future, appropriate and thorough contingency planning is one of the key actions you can take to mitigate potential damage.

Andrew Preston, CEO of HireGenics in the UK, EMEA and APAC comments: “We are proud to be aligned with Stronger Together on their Consumer Goods and Responsible Recruitment Toolkit programmes, in our mission to embed and promote responsible recruitment and support our like-minded clients and agency partners to tackle modern slavery within their own organisations.

“As we come to the end of marking Anti-Slavery Week 2023 in all its significance, now, more than ever, it is vital that businesses engage with and mitigate the challenges this kind of exploitation poses. As a leader in delivering workforce management solutions always with talent at the centre, HireGenics is committed to continuing to do all we can to operate ethically and raise awareness in the sector.”

If you would like to understand more about how HireGenics can support your organisation through our sustainable, compliant and innovative workforce solutions, please visit www.hiregenics.co.uk or email [email protected].