The UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 Three Years On
| Published date | 01 November 2018 |
| Author | Virginia Mantouvalou |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12377 |
| Date | 01 November 2018 |
bs_bs_banner
LEGISLATION
The UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 Three Years On
Virginia Mantouvalou∗
This article provides a critical assessment of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA) three
years after its enactment. It puts forward the following claims: first, that while criminalisation
of individuals who engage in severe labour exploitation is welcome, the legislation has failed to
increase prosecutions and to provideadequate remedies to victims; second, that heavy reliance on
criminal law for the regulation of severe labour exploitation is insufficient, because the broader
political and legislative context suggests that there is no political will to address structural factors,
including legal structures, that create vulnerability to exploitation; and third, that the MSA is
too weak in tackling modern slavery by businesses in their supply chains, as existing evidence
from business responses to the MSA indicates. The article concludes that despite the passing of
the Act, there is much scope for improvement in measures for eliminating labour exploitation,
even with regard to its most severe forms.
INTRODUCTION
In 2017, two brothers were convicted of ar ranging the travel for labour ex-
ploitation of men from Poland.1The men were recruited to work for a Sports
Direct warehouse in the UK. The brothers had employed someone in Poland
to identify vulnerable people, over whom they would be able to exercise con-
trol. In the UK, the victims’ passports were held, they were isolated, and kept
in appalling living conditions. Victims said that they were treated ‘like a piece
of rubbish’ and that the brothers ‘destroyed their lives’.2The brothers were
sentenced to six years in prison for modern slavery offences. Judge Stephen
Coupland said, during sentencing, that this was a ‘planned and systematic’ in-
stance of human trafficking. Albeit by no means an isolated incident, this case
exemplifies the extremity of ill-treatment that workers can suffer.
The Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA) was enacted in order to tackle situa-
tions such as the above. At the time of its enactment, the then Home Secretary,
Theresa May, descr ibed it as a ‘historic milestone’ that
∗Professor of Human Rights and Labour Law, UCL, Faculty of Laws. I am grateful to Alan Bogg,
Hugh Collins, Jennifer Collins, Mark Dsouza, George Letsas, Robert McCorquodale, Kate Roberts,
and two anonymous referees for comments on a draft of this piece. Many thanks are also due to Joe
Atkinson and Natalie Sedacca for excellent research assistance.
1 This is a Crown Court decision and is unreported. See ‘Sports Direct Modern Slavery
Brothers Jailed’ BBC News 23 January 2017 at http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-
derbyshire-38721900; see also ‘Recycling Slavery Gang Jailed for 32 Years’ Resource 1 June
2017 at http://resource.co/article/recycling-slavery-gang-jailed-32-years-11885. Unless other-
wise stated, all URLs were last accessed 19 March 2018.
2 BBC News, n 1 above.
C2018The Author. The Modern Law Review C2018 The Modern Law Review Limited. (2018) 81(6) MLR 1017–1045
Published by JohnWiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 101 Station Landing, Medford, MA 02155, USA
The UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 Three Year s On
sends the strongest possible signal to criminals that if you are involved in this vile
trade you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted and you will be locked up. And
it says to victims, you are not alone - we are here to help you.3
The MSA was also characterised as ‘world-leading’. A year later, after she
became Prime Minister, May wrote an article in The Telegraph reaffirming the
Government’s commitment to defeating moder n slavery. She said:
These crimes must be stopped and the victims of modern slavery must go free. This
is the great human rights issue of our time, and as Prime Minister I am determined
that we will make it a national and international mission to rid our world of this
barbaric evil.4
Over two years since its enactment, in December 2017, the National Audit
Office published a highly critical report on the UK response to modern slavery.5
The Report emphasised that the Home Office does not have a complete
picture of the crime of modern slavery, the victims and the perpetrators, or an
effective system to track any progress. Examining the Government’s Modern
Slavery Strategy of 2014, it found that there is lack of clarity when it comes
to accountability, that the identification, support, and protection of victims is
inadequate, and that there have been few prosecutions.
This article critically assesses the MSA three years after it was passed, drawing
on theoretical literature, legal analysis, and existing empirical findings.6It puts
forward the following claims: first, that while criminalisation of individuals
who engage in severe labour exploitation is welcome, the legislation has failed
to increase prosecutions and provide adequate remedies to victims; second, that
heavy reliance on criminal law for the regulation of severe labour exploitation
is insufficient, because the broader political and legislative context suggests that
there is no political will to address structural factors, including legal structures,
that create vulnerability to exploitation; and third, that the MSA is too weak
in eliminating modern slavery by businesses in their supply chains, and that
existing evidence from business responses to the MSA indicates this. The ar-
ticle concludes that despite the passing of the Act, there is much scope for
improvement in tackling labour exploitation, even in its most severe forms,
both at the level of identifying and prosecuting individuals, and at the level of
addressing structural factors that create vulnerability to exploitation.
The structure of the article is as follows: the next part briefly presents how
the MSA became part of the UK policy agenda, explores its main components,
and examines the meaning of slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour.
A stated purpose of the Act was to increase prosecutions, but this has not been
3 Home Office, ‘Historic Law to End Modern Slavery Passed’ 26 March 2015 at https://www.
gov.uk/government/news/historic-law-to-end-modern-slavery-passed.
4 Theresa May, ‘My Government will lead the way in Defeating Modern Slavery’ The Tele-
graph 31 July 2016 at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/30/we-will-lead-the-way-
in-defeating-modern-slavery/.
5 National Audit Office, Reducing Modern Slavery 15 December 2017 at https://www.nao.org.uk/
report/reducing-modern-slavery/ (National Audit Office Report).
6 The MSA received Royal Assent in March 2015.
1018 C2018 The Author. The Modern Law Review C2018 The Modern Law Review Limited.
(2018) 81(6) MLR 1017–1045
To continue reading
Request your trial