One in ten big UK firms failing in legal requirement to have modern slavery statement
A tenth of big British firms are failing to meet the legal requirement of having a statement on modern slavery.
A recent sampling of 100 companies by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) found a tenth didn’t address the scourge, which generates £126bn annually.
The FRC looked at 100 annual reports for firms which are regulated by Britain’s Independent Slavery Commissioner.
Companies with a turnover of £36m must publish what they are doing to address modern slavery risks, including in their supply chains, with the International Labour Organisation saying 25m are forced into it.
It was reported one reason that firms were reluctant about their compliance with modern slavery rules, is fear of losing investment.
“The prospect of reputational repercussions may, in part, explain the lack of disclosure on the performance of a company’s modern slavery approach,” the FRC said on Monday, as reported by Reuters.