INTRODUCTION

1. Modern slavery blights our society and harms people all over the world. Slavery continues today in every country in the world. Women forced into prostitution. People forced to work in agriculture, domestic work and factories.
2. Someone is in slavery if they are:
   • forced to work – through coercion, or mental or physical threat;
   • owned or controlled by an ’employer’, through mental or physical abuse or the threat of abuse;
   • dehumanized, treated as a commodity or bought and sold as ‘property’;
   • physically constrained or have restrictions placed on their freedom of movement.
3. Human trafficking involves recruitment, harbouring or transporting people into a situation of exploitation through the use of violence, deception or coercion and forced to work against their will.
4. Many people who fall victim of trafficking want to escape poverty, improve their lives, and support their families. Often they get an offer of a well-paid job abroad or in another region. Often they borrow money from their traffickers in advance to pay for arranging the job, travel and accommodation.
5. The health and social care sector is a large employer of people from abroad and we need to take whatever measures are necessary to prevent modern day slavery and human trafficking.

POLICY

We are committed to driving out modern day slavery and human trafficking within our service and those companies who supply us with goods and services whenever it becomes known to us.

PREVENTATIVE MEASURES

The manager and senior staff will ensure they are aware of the requirements of the Modern Day Slavery Act 2015, and ensure copies of the act are available to all staff.

We will not knowingly support or deal with any business involved in slavery or human trafficking in accordance with Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

We will ensure as far as practical that we take account of the threat of modern day slavery and human trafficking in our recruitment process and appointment of staff.

Any member of staff found to be involved in modern day slavery or human trafficking will be subject to disciplinary procedures.

All staff will be made aware of this policy.

This policy will be reviewed annually.