Slavery still exists. It has changed over time and largely moved underground, or at least out of immediate public view. Nevertheless, the UK Government reported that “19,125 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the Home Office in 2024, representing a 13% increase compared to the preceding year (16,990)”. Meanwhile BBC News reported that modern slavery cases rose sixfold in a decade in Greater Manchester. Evidently, this is still a very real danger.
For organisations there is a clear and spoken responsibility for them to prevent slavery practices from infiltrating their operations. There is the pressure to maintain constant vigilance and recognise potential tell-tale signs that they may observe.
An organisation’s policy and procedures play a foundational part in helping to reduce opportunities for modern slavery, for instance by assessing and identifying potential risk factors for slavery to undermine their workforce or supply chain. Similarly, senior support for the strategy and initiatives is crucial for embedding an organisation’s commitment to reducing the risks of modern slavery occurring.
Even so, there is arguably little meaningful recognition of the time and effort that goes into securing an organisation against what can be a particularly insidious threat. From continuously evolving legal and compliance requirements, to building and bolstering a company culture which doesn’t allow such practices to take root, this is an area which takes a profound amount of dedication to maintain.
The Modern Slavery accreditation standards address this by assessing you based on the evidence which you can provide of your efforts and impacts. By providing this evidence for each aspect of the modern slavery accreditation throughout your journey, we are able to independently accredit you at bronze, silver or gold levels. Our Microaccreditation standards assess individual, targeted areas of a modern slavery strategy, such as the impact of training on recognising signs of modern slavery on reducing the risks or improving practices that would stop modern slavery.
Within Modern Slavery Tick Accreditation there are 7 Microaccreditations. Each can be applied for separately through our portal.
Modern Slavery Evidence Guidance:
Click on a microaccreditation to view the standards and download an offline version to prepare your accreditation application.
Strategic vision
Company leadership
Policy
Single initiative or project to reduce risks or take action
Strategy monitoring
Single training course
Using staff voice to inform strategy
Modern slavery can include people trafficking, forced labour, servitude or slavery. For each Modern Slavery Tick, evidence is required for assessment of whether to award Bronze, Silver or Gold accreditation in each aspect.