Modern slavery act statement: guidance and examples (academy trusts)

What is a modern slavery act statement?

Under section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, some organisations are required to publish an annual statement setting out the steps they've taken to make sure modern slavery is not taking place in their business or supply chains.

The government also recommends making statements from previous years available online.

The government guidance includes detailed definitions of modern slavery (see annex A), but it essentially means subjecting anyone to servitude, forced or compulsory labour or human trafficking. 

Do we need one?

Academy trusts with an annual turnover of £36 million or more must publish a statement

Your turnover includes:

• Income and funding from every school in your trust
• All funding streams and grants

Consider publishing a statement even if you're not required to

Forbes Solicitors recommends publishing a modern slavery act statement even if you don't reach the turnover threshold. 

It shows that your trust is committed to good business practices, and is a useful exercise to assess the risks of modern slavery in your trust. 

What should it include?

There's no set format, or specific content required, but the statement should be written in simple, easy-to-understand language. It should aim to cover:

• Your structure, activities and supply chains
• Your policies relating to slavery and human trafficking
• Your due diligence processes in relation to slavery and human trafficking in your trust and supply chains
• The parts of your trust and supply chains where there's a risk of slavery and human trafficking, and the steps you take to manage it
• The effectiveness of procedures to ensure slavery and human trafficking isn't taking place
• The training and capacity building available to your staff

Find more detailed guidance on what each of these elements could include in annex E of the government guidance, linked in the first section of this article. 

You're not required to guarantee that all your supply chains are slavery-free, but your statement should set out all the steps you've taken to counter modern slavery risks.

Approval and publishing of your statement

The statement should be approved by the board of trustees and there must be a link to the statement on your website's homepage (or in an obvious drop-down menu on the homepage). 

You should publish the statement annually, within 6 months of the end of that financial year. You only need to publish the statement for each financial year in which your turnover exceeds the threshold, but the guidance "strongly recommends" continuing to produce the statement even if your turnover falls below the threshold.  

You can also add your most recent statement to the Home Office's modern slavery statement registry, to make it easier for people to find it.

See examples of statements from trusts

• E-ACT Trust, a 29-school trust, has a modern slavery statement (scroll to the end of its homepage)
• Oasis Community Learning, a 53-school trust, has a modern slavery and human trafficking statement which can be accessed from the bottom of its homepage
• REAch2 Academy Trust, a 62-school trust, has a modern slavery and human trafficking statement (scroll down to 'trust policies and statements')