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Sign in or register for an account‘Modern slavery is a serious and brutal crime in which people are treated as commodities and exploited for criminal gain. Many victims are not known to the authorities because of the nature of this vile crime but it is estimated that tens of thousands of people are in modern slavery in the UK today. There is no typical victim of modern slavery but people can be exploited for work, labour, criminality and/or put into domestic servitude. Victims can be trafficked all over the world but can also be trafficked within the UK for the purposes of exploitation. The true extent of modern slavery in the UK and globally is unknown but estimates suggest internationally, 45.8 million people are in some form of modern slavery in 167 different countries, including the UK. Over five million victims are under the age of 18.
Salford City Council supports the Co-Operative Party Charter against Modern Slavery as part of its vision to create 'a better and fairer Salford’ by tackling poverty and inequality and ensuring the city provides opportunities for all. We say loudly and clearly modern slavery has no place in Salford and we are determined to do all we can to stamp out this appalling crime’.
Our Modern Slavery statement sets out the actions Salford City Council will take to ensure we do not condone or support human trafficking and modern slavery in any way and that we encourage the identification, rescue and support of victims and prosecution of those who exploit and harm them.
Our values of pride, passion, people and personal responsibility underpin the way that we work, make decisions and do business and reflect our commitment to taking action on human trafficking and modern slavery.
Salford City Council is committed to the highest possible standards of openness, probity and accountability and encourages employees with serious concerns about any aspect of the council’s work to speak up. This includes any situation that may give rise to a risk of modern slavery or human trafficking.
As an employer, Salford City Council sets high employment standards, which applies to our direct employees, agency workers and suppliers. Our Modern Slavery statement is proposed to be an organic document that reflects the changing picture of modern slavery.
Whilst a number of actions are listed below, the aims of this statement will be embedded in our respective business plans with further actions encouraged across all areas of our business.
Under modern slavery, people are often exploited for financial gain with those who employ them paying well below even the minimum wage. Salford City Council rejects all forms of labour exploitation and sets high employment standards as an example to other businesses and organisations in our city. In 2013 Salford was the first council in Greater Manchester to pay our employees the ‘real’ Living Wage as set by the Living Wage Foundation. The Salford City Mayor’s Charter for Employment Standards aims to improve working conditions in the city by setting a benchmark for local employers whether in business or the public or community and voluntary sectors. Salford City Council expects its partner organisations and supply chain to adhere to fair rates of employee pay by paying or working towards the real Living Wage.
Salford City Council’s procurement and contract management policies and processes have been adapted to address the risk of modern slavery. Organisations providing goods and/or services to the council must agree to comply with the provisions of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, promote ethical business practice, protect employees and workers from abuse and exploitation and endeavour to ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in their supply chains. As part of this action, Salford City Council will also:
Under the Modern Slavery Act 2015, which covers trafficking and slavery related offences, councils must notify the Home Office of all potential victims and make enquiries where modern slavery offences are suspected. Salford City Council promotes modern slavery training to its staff and partners to raise awareness and equip staff with the knowledge and confidence to identify and refer victims into support. Salford City Council recognises that identifying, protecting and safeguarding potential victims is just the start of the support process. We recognise that victims need long-term support and the council is committed to making sure services recognise this and address barriers which may prevent rehabilitation. This help may include access to welfare benefits, housing, health and social care, legal advice and employment support.
Salford City Council works with a range of partner organisations across the public, private and community, voluntary and social enterprise sectors and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. Partnership responsibility for human trafficking and modern slavery is a priority for Salford Community Safety Partnership which, tackles organised criminals through gathering intelligence, disrupting their activities and steering young people towards better futures through Project Gulf and Salford’s Safeguarding Boards which work together to keep adults and children safe, develop expertise and share best practice. Salford City Council supports initiatives including weeks of action to raise awareness and share the message in our local communities and works with the Greater Manchester modern slavery co-ordination unit.
Following the councils publication of its modern slavery statement in 2019, the Local Government Association published a modern slavery maturity matrix, which contains 21 criteria on which a council can assess itself against and use as a tool to implement and measure development progress rated from ‘1. Basic’ through to ‘4. Mature’. The criteria cover the topics of: Leadership, Resources & Capacity, Identifying and supporting adult victims, Identifying and supporting child victims, Disruption and prevention and Procurement and commissioning. The full matrix can be found at the following web address: Council guide to tackling modern slavery.
Salford City Council has used and will continue to use this maturity matrix alongside other strategies to measure and drive its modern slavery performance. The council has set a minimum target of Level 2 ‘Early Progress’ across all criteria with an ambition to achieve Level 3 ‘Substantial progress’ before the end of 2025.
Modern slavery includes a range of crimes, including: Sexual exploitation, Domestic servitude, Forced labour, Criminal exploitation, Organ harvesting, Forced begging. Forced benefit fraud, Forced marriage, illegal adoption.
Forced labour/child labour is any work or service which adults or children do against their will, under the threat of punishment or as a result of coercion, abduction, fraud or deception. This can include begging, sexual services, manual labour and domestic servitude. Servitude is an aggravated form of forced or compulsory labour. The fundamental difference between servitude and forced or compulsory labour is that the victim feels their condition is permanent and the situation is unlikely to change. Slavery is similar to servitude but the exploiter creates a sense of ‘owning’ the victim.
Further information on what modern slavery is can be found on the Salford Safeguarding Adults Board website.
Further help can be found by ringing the modern slavery telephone helpline on: 08000 121 700 or online on the Unseen website.