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Our Statutory Duties and Obligations

In the London Borough of Bexley, we are committed to the opposition of modern slavery and human trafficking and are working with our partners to drive the identification, recognition, awareness, and disruption of this heinous crime. The London Borough of Bexley’s 5-Year Modern Slavery and Exploitation Strategy sets out our local partnership approach (including referral pathways) and is available by emailing community.safety@bexley.gov.uk.

Find out more information on our Modern Slavery Statement.

Legal Framework

The London Borough of Bexley is subject to all applicable anti-slavery legislation in the UK. Specifically, the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA) is the main piece of applicable legislation, which consolidated all previous laws, increased sentences, and expanded court powers.

The most important changes to the legal framework brought in by the MSA are:

  • it made it an offence to hold another in slavery, or servitude, or require them to perform forced or compulsory labour
  • Section 52 gives First Responders – including police, Local Authorities, and designated charities - the duty to “…identify and refer modern slavery child victims and consenting adult victims through the National Referral Mechanism (NRM)”
  • Section 45 provides a legal defence to victims against prosecutions for offences committed as part of their exploitation
  • the MSA requires the provision of support to potential victims of modern slavery entering the National Referral Mechanism (NRM)

Our Statutory Obligations

The Local Authority has statutory obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to respond to modern slavery and human trafficking and to safeguard residents from being exploited. In short, there are two obligations:

  1. not to subject anyone to modern slavery or human trafficking
  2. to act and safeguard residents when we have reason to believe they have been a victim of modern slavery or human trafficking

1. We shall not subject anyone to modern slavery or human trafficking

The first obligation is met by ensuring the Council’s own employment policies and practices meet legal requirements, mitigate risks of exploitation, and ensure there are grievance procedures in place to report where there are concerns. It also requires us, as an authority contracting and commissioning other goods and services, to risk assess our supply chains and mitigate risks of exploitations within them. Please see the Procurement Action Plan, which will be updated annually, to understand how we deliver against this requirement.

2. We shall safeguard residents we believe to be a victim of modern slavery or human trafficking

The second obligation requires us to work to identify and safeguard victims of modern slavery exploited by others. Specifically, Section 52 places a duty on local authorities to identify and refer child or consenting adult victims through the National Referral Mechanism (NRM.) This Act also makes the Local Authority a First Responder, which places a duty on us to notify the Home Office of non-consenting adults suspected to be trafficked, enslaved, or exploited.

Both a referral and a notification can be made on the GOV.UK website.

This statutory duty applies to all employees at the London Borough of Bexley, but there are specific points of contact within the local authority who can guide staff in making referrals.

Our statutory duty, however, is not satisfied by simply making a referral or notification. The local authority has overarching safeguarding duties which require us to provide the necessary care and support to at-risk and exploited people that we are aware of, even before a conclusion has been made by the Government regarding their status as a modern slavery victim or not.

This is primarily provided by social care (adults and children’s), through normal safeguarding processes and the relevant partnership forum for safeguarding – for children, this is our Multi-Agency Child Exploitation (MACE) group and for adults, this can be ad hoc or through our Community Risk Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (CR MARAC). These forums include partner professionals and are a place to refer people at being or at risk of exploitation, and agree multi-agency actions to intervene, disrupt and safeguard them.

We also have housing duties where there are priority needs for victims of modern slavery, to ensure they are accommodated in a place that will reduce the harm and risks. Many tools and resources are available through Government schemes and the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract Provider, and therefore a partnership approach is necessary to provide adequate and holistic safeguarding.

The Modern Slavery Toolkit reflects the above obligations, and the tools and resources we have developed to deliver against them. The Toolkit will be updated annually to reflect any changes in legislative requirements, and tools available to partners to meet the obligations in this Strategy.