Guidance

Process for submitting a government modern slavery statement

Published 6 May 2021

This page outlines the process for submitting a modern slavery statement on the registry, including all the pages and questions at each stage.

Register an organisation

Did you receive a letter from us?

The letter includes an organisation reference and security code.

• Yes

If yes, continue with registration, inputting your organisation reference and security code.

• No

If no, continue with steps below up to ‘Manage your organisation’.

What type of organisation do you want to register?

Private or voluntary sector organisation

This includes:

• private limited companies
• public limited companies
• limited liability partnerships
• charities
• private schools
• other private sector organisations

Or

Public sector organisation

This includes:

• government departments and arms-length bodies
• police forces
• fire and rescue services
• local authorities
• NHS bodies
• other public sector organisations

Find your organisation

Organisation name or company number

If your organisation’s headquarters are outside the UK, it may not appear in the search results. In this case, you’ll need to provide us with its details.

Search:

Confirm your organisation’s details

Organisation name:

Company number:

Registered address:

We’re sending a PIN by post to the following name and address

Name:

Address:

What happens next

Your PIN should arrive within 7 days.

When you get it, sign in to the Modern slavery statement registry and use the PIN to activate the service

Manage your organisation

Use this page to manage your statements on the registry. You can start or continue to provide information about your statement and submit it when you’re ready – or edit and resubmit a statement that you’ve already added.

You should select the year when your statement was due to be published on your website. This is 6 months after your financial year end.

What is a statement year?

If your financial year end was before June 2020, select 2020 for the statement covering this period (as it was due to be published before the end of 2020).

If your financial year end was after June 2020, select 2021 as the statement year (as it is due to be published in 2021).

If your financial year end this year is before June 2021, select 2021 for the statement covering this period (as it is due to be published before the end of 2021).

If your financial year end is after June 2021, your statement is not due to be published yet.

Before you start

To use this service, you will need to provide us with some basic information about your most recent modern slavery statement.

We will then ask you some additional questions about your statement. These are optional – but we strongly encourage you to complete them. All our questions relate to the period covered by your statement.

Saving and editing your answers

You do not have to answer all our questions in one go. You can save and edit your answers as often as you like before you submit them.

Publishing your answers on GOV.UK

When you submit your answers, we will publish all the information you’ve provided as a statement summary on the Modern slavery statement registry on GOV.UK. This will include a link to the full statement on your website. It will be available for public viewing.

If you need to, you can make changes to your published answers and resubmit them. Your updated information will then replace your original answers on the registry.

Transparency and modern slavery

Under section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 modern slavery statements must cover the steps that all relevant organisations have taken to ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in any of their supply chains or any parts of their business. If an organisation has taken no steps, it must still publish a statement stating this clearly.

The purpose of the Modern slavery statement registry is to increase supply chain transparency and improve understanding of modern slavery risks and best practice.

We acknowledge that identifying and addressing modern slavery risks is a long-term challenge. Our aim is for organisations to:

• be open and transparent about modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains
• target their actions and prioritise risks in order to have the most impact
• make progress over time to address those risks and improve outcomes for workers

We encourage you to answer all questions as fully as possible.

Overview of submission process

Basic information about your statement and organisation (required)

1. Organisations covered by the statement

2. Statement URL, dates and sign-off

3. Recommended areas covered by the statement

4. Your organisation’s sectors and turnover or budget

5. How many years you’ve been producing statements

Statement summary (optional)

6. Policies (optional)

7. Training (optional)

8. Monitoring working conditions (optional)

9. Modern slavery risks (optional)

10. Finding indicators of modern slavery (optional)

11. Demonstrating your progress (optional)

1. Organisations covered by the statement

Does your modern slavery statement cover a single organisation or a group of organisations?

Group statements for organisations in a group

Where several organisations in a group (for example, a parent organisation and one or more subsidiaries) are required to publish a statement, they can agree to produce a combined group statement on behalf of all relevant organisations in the group. The statement must cover the steps that all relevant organisations have taken to tackle modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chain.

How to answer questions about your group statement

Different organisations within the group may have taken different steps based on their circumstances. When answering questions on our service on behalf of a group, your answers should reflect the steps taken by any of the organisations in your group.

Individual statements for organisations in a group

If there is no combined group statement, each organisation in the group that is required to publish a statement must produce its own individual statement.

If you do not have a link, please provide a contact email address that can be used to request a copy of the statement.

Your statement covers:

• A single organisation
• A group of organisation

2. Statement URL, dates and sign-off

Provide a link to the modern slavery statement on your organisation’s website

URL must begin with ‘https://’ or ‘http://’.

Answer format: URL, or provide an email address if you do not have a website.

Provide an email address

If you do not have a website, provide an email address that can be used to request a copy of the statement. It will be published on GOV.UK as part of your statement summary on the registry.

On request, provide a copy within 30 days

If you have to publish a modern slavery statement by law and you don’t have a website, you must provide a copy of the statement in writing to anyone who requests one within 30 days.

Organisations in a group

If your organisation is part of a group, we would encourage you to publish your statement on the website of your parent organisation, and add that URL to our online service.

What period does this statement cover?

Answer format: “from” date and “to” date.

What is the name of the director (or equivalent) who signed off your statement?

Answer format: first name, last name, job title.

What date was your statement approved by the board or equivalent management body?

Answer format: “from” date and “to” date.

3. Recommended areas covered by the statement

Does your statement cover the following areas in relation to modern slavery?

Answer format: Yes/No boxes for each mandatory area:

• Your organisation’s structure, business and supply chains
• Polices
• Risk assessment
• Due diligence (steps to address risk)
• Training about modern slavery
• Goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of your actions and progress over time

4. Your organisation’s sectors and turnover

Which sectors does your organisation operate in?

If your statement is for a group, select sectors for all organisations in the group.

Select all that apply.

Answer format: Yes/No boxes for each mandatory area:

• Accommodation and food service activities
• Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies
• Activities of households as employers
• Administrative and support service activities
• Agriculture, forestry and fishing
• Arts, entertainment and recreation
• Construction
• Education
• Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply
• Financial and insurance activities
• Human health and social work activities
• Information and communication
• Manufacturing
• Mining and quarrying
• Other service activities
• Profession scientific and technical activities
• Public administration and defence
• Public sector
• Real estate activities
• Transportation and storage
• Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation
• Wholesale and retail trade
• Other

5. How many years you’ve been producing statements

How many years has your organisation been producing modern slavery statement?

If your statement is for a group of organisations, select the answer that applies to the organisation with the longest history of producing statements.

• This is the first time
• 1 to 5 years
• More than 5 years

What was your turnover or budget during the financial year the statement relates to?

If your statement is for a group, include the total turnover for all the organisations in the group.

If you’re a public body, base your answer on your organisation’s budget.

Advice on calculating your turnover or budget, including for charities and investment trusts, is available in the government’s guidance on publishing a statement.

• Under £36 million
• £36 million to £60 million
• £60 million to £100 million
• £100 million to £500 million
• Over £500 million

6. Polices (optional)

Do your organisation’s policies include any of the following provisions in relation to modern slavery?

Your answers should apply to your domestic and global supply chains as well as your own operations.

Select all that apply:

• Freedom of workers to terminate employment
• Freedom of movement
• Freedom of association
• Prohibits any threat of violence, harassment and intimidation
• Prohibits the use of worker-paid recruitment fees
• Prohibits compulsory overtime
• Prohibits child labour
• Prohibits discrimination
• Prohibits confiscation of workers’ original identification documents
• Provides access to remedy, compensation and justice for victims of modern slavery
• Other

Or

• Your organisation’s policies do not include any of these provisions in relation to modern slavery

7. Training (optional)

If you provided training on modern slavery during the period of the statement, who was it for?

What kind of training is relevant?

Anything designed to increase knowledge and skills around identifying, addressing or preventing modern slavery risks is relevant. Training can take a range of forms, from formal training courses to broader awareness-raising activities such as workshops or webinars.

You can read more about training in the statutory guidance.

Select all that apply:

• Your whole organisation
• Your front line staff
• Human resources
• Executive-level staff
• Procurement staff
• Your suppliers
• The wider community
• Other

Or

• Your organisation did not provide training on modern slavery during the period of the statement

8. Monitoring working conditions (optional)

During the period of the statement, who did you engage with to help you monitor working conditions across your organisation and supply chain?

Select all that apply:

• Your suppliers
• Trade unions or worker representative groups
• Civil society organisations
• Professional auditors
• Workers within your organisation
• Workers within your supply chain
• Central or local government
• Law enforcement, such as police, GLAA and other local labour market inspectorates
• Businesses in your industry or sector

Or

• Your organisation did not engage with others to help monitor working conditions across your operations and supply chain

Did you carry out any social audits? If so, what type?

If so, which of the following categories apply?

What are social audits?

A social audit is a review of an organisation’s working practices from the point of view of social responsibility, and should include an evaluation of working conditions in the organisation’s operations and supply chains. By their nature, audits of supplier workplaces represent a snapshot in time.

Select all that apply:

• Audit conducted by your staff
• Third party audit arranged by your organisation
• Audit conducted by your supplier’s staff
• Third party audit arranged by your supplier
• Announced audit
• Unannounced audit

Or

• Your organisation did not carry out any social audits during the period of the statement

What type of anonymous grievance mechanisms did you have in place?

Tell us how workers in your operations or supply chains could raise concerns or make complaints.

Select all that apply:

• Using anonymous whistleblowing services, such as a helpline or mobile phone app
• Through trade unions or other worker representative groups

Or

• There were no processes in your operations or supply chains for workers to raise concerns or make complaints

Are there any other ways you monitored working conditions across your operations and supply chains?

Tell us briefly what you did.

Answer format: 200 character limit free text.

9. Modern slavery risks (optional)

Tell us about your modern slavery risks

Briefly describe up to 3 priority risks your organisation focused on during the period of the statement. You can provide more information on the following pages, including what you’re doing to manage each risk.

How to describe your risks

If possible, include details of the affected workers, the activity involved, and the location.

For example, ‘Bangladeshi migrants manufacturing clothing in Mauritius’ or ‘Temporary construction workers building retail premises in the UK’.

Answer format: 3 text boxes for the user to enter in 3 risks (200 character limit).

Or

My organisation did not identify any modern slavery risks in its operations or supply chains during the period of the statement.

If risks are identified, the following questions will be asked about each risk.

About this risk

Where was the risk you described most likely to occur?

• Within your own operations
• Within your supply chains
  • Tier 1 suppliers - provide their products and services directly to your organisation
  • Tier 2 suppliers - provide products and services to your organisation via your Tier 1 suppliers
  • Tier 3 suppliers and below - provide products and services to your organisation via your Tier 2 suppliers or the next higher level in the chain
• Other

Who was most likely to be affected?

• Women
• Migrants
• Refugees
• Children
• Other vulnerable groups

In which country?

Add another country.

Tell us about your actions or plans to address this risk

Answer format: 500 character limit free text.

10. Finding indicators of modern slavery (optional)

Does your statement refer to finding any International Labour Organization (ILO) indicators of forced labour?

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has produced a list of the most common signs of forced labour. They’re based on the definition of forced labour as ‘all work or service which is extracted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.’ More details and guidance are available on the ILO website, and in their publication ILO indicators of forced labour.

Select all that apply:

• Abuse of vulnerability
• Deception
• Restriction of movement
• Isolation
• Physical and sexual violence
• Intimidation and threats
• Retention of identity documents
• Withholding of wages
• Debt bondage
• Abusive working and living conditions
• Excessive overtime

Or

• My statement does not refer to finding any ILO indicators of forced labour

11. Demonstrating progress (optional)

How does your statement demonstrate your progress over time in addressing modern slavery risks?

For example, do you use key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure your performance, or have you set progress goals for your next statement?

Answer format: 500 character limit free text.