Modern slavery

What is modern slavery?

Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights.  It takes various forms such as slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour and human trafficking, all of which have in common the deprivation of a person's liberty by another in order to exploit them for personal or commercial gain.  There may be 13,000 victims nationally or around 70 locally.

How do I recognise modern slavery?

Victims may be afraid of the authorities as they may have been forced to commit crimes.

Victims may:

• look unkempt
• be malnourished
• be under the control of others
• live in poor accommodation
• show signs of abuse
• have no documents.

How do I report modern slavery?

If you suspect that someone is a potential victim of modern slavery or just feel that 'something is not quite right' you should report the matter.

In an emergency contact the police on 999, for non-emergencies use 101.

If you are concerned about modern slavery in the East Riding, please contact Humberside Police:

Humberside Police - Modern Slavery (external website)

You can also report modern slavery anonymously here:

Modern Slavery Helpline (external website)

What is the council doing about modern slavery?

The council is committed to raising awareness of modern slavery.  Front-line staff and partners are being trained to recognise it and information are being shared with businesses and community groups so that public awareness of the problem is growing.

We have put in place arrangements to safeguard and support victims as they are identified and to make sure they are passed through to the appropriate national bodies.

The council has also produced a modern-day slavery policy. The policy recognises the importance of modern slavery and the obligations it has to identify and safeguard victims.

The policy can be viewed below:

Modern Day Slavery Policy (pdf 150kb opens in new window)

What should businesses do about modern slavery?

The Modern Slavery Act requires every organisation carrying on a business within the UK with a total turnover of £36m or more to produce a slavery and human trafficking statement for each financial year of the organisation. Smaller companies may wish to produce a similar statement on a voluntary basis.

The council does not have a legal obligation to publish a modern slavery statement, but has chosen to do voluntarily to demonstrate its commitment to the problem.

The statement can be viewed below:

Modern Day Slavery Statement (pdf 278kb)

The following link has practical advice on producing statements:

Transparency in Supply Chains - A Practical Guide (pdf 1.7mb)

Where can I view further information?

The council is a member of the Humber Modern Slavery partnership, their website is available here:

Humber Modern Slavery Partnership (external website)

The Gangmasters & Labour Abuse Authority is a Government body that regulates the supply of labour to:

• agriculture
  
• horticulture
• shellfish gathering
• any associated processing and packaging.

Their website is available here:

Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (external website)

The charity Unchosen uses films to raise awareness of modern slavery.  

The films are very powerful, they are available to view here:

Unchosen (external website)