At what cost? Exploring the impact of forced labour in the UK

Louise Gleich, Senior Policy Researcher at Justice and Care and the Centre for Social Justice’s Modern Slavery Policy Unit, reflects on our new report, At What Cost? Exploring the Impact Of Forced Labour in the UK.

It is easy to think of slavery as something that is very far away. But as our latest report demonstrates, forced labour is all around us – among the staff at our favourite takeaways, in the care homes looking after our elderly relatives and the farms and food companies supplying our supermarkets.

Our new report, produced in partnership with the Centre for Social Justice, At what cost? Exploring the impact of forced labour in the UK reveals the reality of this type of modern slavery which is rife through our communities. 

The report comes on the back of last month’s high-profile case of victims being exploited by a Czech crime family in a Cambridgeshire McDonald’s and a London bakery. A number of the survivors in this case were supported by Justice & Care.

Forced or compulsory labour is a form of modern slavery that sits at the most severe end of a spectrum of exploitation and non-compliant employment conditions. Victims are coerced or deceived into working for little or no pay, or someone else takes control of their wages or forces them to work to pay off excessive and illegitimate debts. It is often accompanied by threats and physically demanding or unsafe
working conditions.

At what cost? shatters any illusion that forced labour is a problem restricted to global supply chains. In fact, it is the second most common form of modern slavery reported by victims referred to the Home Office where some or all of their exploitation took place in the UK (16,432 victims between October 2019 and June 2024).

Victims of forced labour suffer mental and physical harm as well as loss of earnings from unpaid or stolen wages or illegal debts. But there are also wider impacts. If victims lack the necessary language skills to understand health and safety briefings, if they do not have the relevant training or are simply exhausted from overwork this can put others around them at risk. This could be, for example, colleagues on construction sites or in factories, but in the case of victims exploited in the social care sector it is especially worrying that vulnerable and elderly people may be at risk.

There is an economic impact too: the report estimates that as much as £340 million of tax revenue could be lost over the course of the current Parliament by the malicious activities of these slaving criminals diverting cash. Perhaps more horrifying is the thought the Government is inadvertently profiting from forced labour where taxes are being paid prior to wages being siphoned off by exploiters.

The key findings of the report are:

 Forced or compulsory labour happens in the regular economy with criminals infiltrating or camouflaging themselves as legitimate businesses, with the highest risk in social care, hand car washes, agriculture, construction and hospitality sectors.

 Weaknesses in our labour market and immigration systems are exploited by criminals including insufficient enforcement against non-compliant employers and manipulation of visa schemes for overseas care workers and seasonal agricultural labourers.

 Responsible businesses are taking action but face many challenges including a lack of a level playing field to ensure all companies take meaningful action. 

 Remedy, restoration and justice are needed for all victims, in particular improved access to compensation and support to return to work, and more prosecutions of perpetrators. The Government must get to grips with this issue to deliver its goals of a ‘New Deal for Working People’ and ‘Take Back Our Streets’. There needs to be an urgent combined and coordinated effort involving not just the government but also businesses and non-statutory organisations.

Highlighted recommendations from At what cost? include:

 Development of licensing regimes for high-risk industries in the informal sector, beginning with hand car washes.

 An urgent inquiry into exploitation and forced and compulsory labour in the adult social care sector.

 Strengthened labour market enforcement through the Fair Work Agency (including a focus on modern slavery) and more inspectors funded by a new Fair Work Levy on businesses. 

 Establish specialist modern slavery teams in all police forces.

 Strengthened reporting requirements for businesses under Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 on action against forced labour in their supply chains and an assessment of further legislative developments that may be necessary, including mandatory human rights due diligence.