Stamp Out Slavery

Stamp Out Slavery Helping companies identify and address the risks of modern slavery occurring in their supply chains

Today is World Humanitarian Day — a day that recognises those working in crisis zones and the people caught in the middl...
19/08/2026

Today is World Humanitarian Day — a day that recognises those working in crisis zones and the people caught in the middle of them.

There's a direct line between humanitarian crisis and modern slavery that rarely makes it into the conversation.

People displaced by conflict, flood, drought or famine are among those most actively targeted by traffickers. They arrive without documents, without contacts, without legal status, without a safety net. Traffickers know exactly what that looks like. They target it.

The UK's estimated 130,000 people in modern slavery include significant numbers who were displaced before they were exploited — people who left their homes not because they wanted to, but because staying was no longer survivable.

The climate crisis is making this worse. Unseen's Modern Slavery Toolkit, published this year, states it directly: climate-induced migration is increasing vulnerability to exploitation.

This isn't geopolitics. It's supply chain reality.

The workers cleaning offices, guarding buildings and serving food in UK businesses include those who arrived in crisis conditions. The system that failed to protect them abroad often continues to leave them exposed here.

On World Humanitarian Day, the question isn't only "how do we support people in crisis zones?" It's: what do we know about the people who survived the crisis — and are now inside our supply chains?


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📊 Source: Unseen (2026) — The Modern Slavery Toolkit · UNHCR · ILO Global Estimates 2022

The NRM. It comes up in every modern slavery conversation. Most people in business can't explain what it actually means....
18/08/2026

The NRM. It comes up in every modern slavery conversation. Most people in business can't explain what it actually means.

Here's the essential version.

The National Referral Mechanism is the UK's formal framework for identifying, supporting and protecting victims of modern slavery. It is the pathway through which a concern about exploitation becomes action.

Only designated First Responder Organisations can make an NRM referral. These include the police, social services, the Home Office — and, from April 2026, the Fair Work Agency. That's a significant expansion: labour inspectors who identify exploitative conditions can now formally refer potential victims into the support system.

As a business, you are not a First Responder. But you are often the person who notices something first.

A worker in your supply chain who seems fearful. Who is always accompanied. Who arrives and leaves at unusual hours. Who won't answer questions freely.

You do not need to investigate. You do not need to be certain. You need to make one of three calls:

📞 Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline: 08000 121 700 — free, confidential, 24/7, 250+ languages

📞 Police: 999 (or 101 if not an emergency)

📞 Fair Work Agency — if the concern relates to a labour supply chain

From there, professionals take over.

The NRM isn't just a government system. It's the chain of action that starts with someone in a building or on a site choosing not to look away.

Three in four.That is the share of UK nationals referred into the National Referral Mechanism in 2025 who were children....
12/08/2026

Three in four.

That is the share of UK nationals referred into the National Referral Mechanism in 2025 who were children.

Today is International Youth Day.

The assumption most people carry into conversations about modern slavery is that victims are predominantly adults — migrants in exploitative labour arrangements in construction, agriculture or cleaning. That assumption is incomplete.

In 2025, 7,028 children were referred into the NRM — the highest number on record, representing 30% of all referrals. And among UK nationals specifically, 75% of those identified as potential victims were children.

This is not a foreign national issue. It is happening here, to people from here.

The routes through which children are exploited are specific and documented. Criminal exploitation accounted for 50% of all child referrals in 2025 — the most common category by a significant margin. County lines alone generated 2,083 referrals, 76% of which were for male children.

But criminal exploitation is not the only route. There is also forced labour in car washes, nail bars and warehouses. Domestic servitude. Children coerced into exploitation through manufactured debt, manufactured loyalty, manufactured belonging.

For businesses in FM, security, cleaning and construction: the informal, subcontracted end of your supply chain is where the youngest and most vulnerable workers are most likely to appear.

On International Youth Day, it is worth asking what your organisation actually knows about who is working in that part of your chain.


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📊 Source: Home Office — NRM End of Year Summary 2025 (published February 2026) · Stamp Out Slavery · Unseen UK

Modern slavery compliance is often treated as a documentation exercise. It shouldn't be.Exploitation doesn't appear thro...
11/08/2026

Modern slavery compliance is often treated as a documentation exercise. It shouldn't be.

Exploitation doesn't appear through paperwork. It shows up operationally — in who's on site, who's paying them, and whether anyone has actually asked.

Five questions that every FM manager should be able to answer:

1. Who actually employs the people working here? Is it the contractor who won the tender — or has it been subcontracted? Layered subcontracting obscures responsibility. Be clear about the labour chain.

2. How is pay compliance verified? NMW compliance cannot be assumed. Payslip sampling and cross-referencing attendance against payroll provide more assurance than any policy document can.

3. Can workers raise concerns safely? A clear, known reporting line matters. If workers don't know it exists, they could be at risk.

4. How do you identify unauthorised labour substitution? ID checks and unannounced audits are practical controls. They reduce risk before it escalates.

5. What would exploitation look like in this building? Excessive hours, shared accommodation, reluctance to speak independently. The worker who won't make eye contact. Not proof — but worth a second look.

These aren't difficult questions. They're the starting point for every serious conversation about modern slavery in the built environment.

Can you answer all five?

On 7 April 2026, the Fair Work Agency became operational.It is the single most significant structural change to employme...
06/08/2026

On 7 April 2026, the Fair Work Agency became operational.

It is the single most significant structural change to employment enforcement in the UK in a generation.

The FWA consolidates what was previously fragmented: National Minimum Wage enforcement from HMRC, Employment Agency Standards, and the functions of the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority — all brought together under one body, with one mandate.

Crucially, from April 2026, the Fair Work Agency is a designated First Responder Organisation. It can now formally identify potential victims of modern slavery and refer them into the National Referral Mechanism — the pathway that previously only charities, police and social services could access.

This matters for supply chains in a specific way.

Previously, a labour inspector might identify exploitative conditions but lack formal authority to trigger victim support. The FWA changes that. Inspectors can now proactively investigate across all sectors in England and Wales — not just in response to complaints, but through planned inspections.

Enforcement is no longer reactive.

The bar for what organisations will be expected to demonstrate about their supply chains is rising. Published statements and declared policies are not the same as demonstrable action.

SOS certification exists for exactly this moment.

The security industry protects assets, buildings and people. But its own workforce is one of the most underexamined in U...
04/08/2026

The security industry protects assets, buildings and people. But its own workforce is one of the most underexamined in UK labour exploitation.

Security contracts are notoriously price-sensitive. Margins are thin. Subcontracting chains are long. Umbrella companies and dubious self-employment arrangements obscure who is ultimately responsible for employment conditions.

The result can be underpayment, excessive shift patterns, unlawful deductions for accommodation or uniforms. In the most serious cases: coercion linked to immigration status or debt bo***ge.

The warning signs are subtle but they're there.

Guards working consecutive overnight shifts with no documented rest periods. Workers transported in groups between sites. Shared or overcrowded housing arranged by the employer or labour provider. Contracts that are unclear, missing or withheld.

When buyers award security contracts on lowest price rather than demonstrable standards, they reward those willing to cut corners. Ethical operators are then forced to compete against exploitative pricing. The security industry — like cleaning and FM — is under systemic pressure from this dynamic.

The answer isn't in policy statements. It's in transparent supply chains, independent pay verification, robust right-to-work checks, and procurement practices that don't treat the human cost of security as invisible.

Modern slavery isn’t a single issue — it’s an umbrella term for a range of exploitative practices that deprive people of...
30/07/2026

Modern slavery isn’t a single issue — it’s an umbrella term for a range of exploitative practices that deprive people of their freedom for someone else’s gain. These forms can appear in both global supply chains and local workplaces alike.

Some of the most common types include:

➤ Human trafficking - moving people through force, coercion or deception for exploitation.

➤ Forced labour - work extracted under threat or without true consent.

➤ Debt bo***ge - being trapped in work to repay unmanageable debt.

➤ Child exploitation - children used for labour or other profit-driven activity.

➤ Domestic servitude - work inside homes with restricted freedom.

➤ Criminal exploitation - being forced to commit crimes.

➤ Sexual exploitation - coerced into sexual activities for profit.

Each type involves control, coercion or the abuse of vulnerability - and all can be found much closer to us than we think.

Understanding these forms helps organisations better identify risk and protect people at every level of the workforce and supply chain.

👉 Find out more and learn how to take action: stampoutslavery.org

Plastic Free July. Millions of people across the UK cutting single-use plastics.It matters. It genuinely does.But here's...
23/07/2026

Plastic Free July. Millions of people across the UK cutting single-use plastics.

It matters. It genuinely does.

But here's the question that sustainability frameworks are still failing to answer consistently: can a supply chain be called ethical if the workers within it aren't free?

ESG has three pillars. Environmental receives the most scrutiny. Social — consistently the least. Modern slavery risk in labour supply chains is exactly the kind of social risk that these frameworks exist to address. And it is routinely under-examined.

For organisations in cleaning, facilities management, security and construction — where subcontracted labour and tight commercial margins are the norm — a genuine commitment to sustainability means examining not just your environmental footprint, but your human one.

The workers most vulnerable to exploitation are concentrated in the sectors that underpin the built environment. The same sectors where sustainability conversations are happening.

A net-zero commitment and a modern slavery risk in your supply chain can exist simultaneously. The environmental and the social are not separate problems.

Sustainability that stops at carbon is an incomplete picture.

Find out more at stampoutslavery.org

Summer is construction's busiest season.More sites. More projects. More workers — and in many cases, more layers between...
21/07/2026

Summer is construction's busiest season.

More sites. More projects. More workers — and in many cases, more layers between a principal contractor and the people actually doing the work.

The industry's structure creates the conditions for exploitation. Large projects rely on multiple subcontractors, labour agencies, and self-employed workers. By the time a worker reaches a site, there may be four or five organisations between them and the client.

That distance is where risk lives.

The warning signs are documented in the 2026 Modern Slavery Toolkit and consistently reported across GLAA enforcement data:

➤ Wages paid to a gang leader or third party rather than directly to the worker

➤ Workers living on-site in controlled or overcrowded accommodation

➤ Excessive hours with no contract or pay documentation

➤ Documents held by a third party — passports, ID, bank cards

➤ Workers who are always accompanied and never left alone

➤ Signs of fear, malnourishment or inadequate PPE for the conditions

The ILO estimates 28 million people are in forced labour globally. Construction is one of the sectors most consistently identified in UK enforcement actions.

Summer's increased pace is not a reason to reduce oversight. It is a reason to increase it.

Find out more at stampoutslavery.org

📊 Source: Unseen (2026) — The Modern Slavery Toolkit · ILO Global Estimates 2022 · GLAA

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