What does modern slavery look like?
09/05/2017
What does modern slavery look like? | Analysis | Construction News
What does modern slavery look like? 25 February, 2016 By Robyn Wilson
Contractors take note Risk areas Spotting the warning signs No action? What now? Escape
The number of workers that are trafficked, exploited and forced to work in UK construction is rising. Construction News speaks to one of the thousands of victims and asks what contractors must do to eradicate the stain of modern slavery. “There were three of us all together in a room with no lights. They would lock us in when we weren’t working and threaten to fight us or kill us if we tried to leave.” Four years after his ordeal, Jani is telling me about the months he spent working in UK construction under conditions of what is usually called modern slavery.
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/analysis/analysis/what-does-modern-slavery-look-like/10003324.article
1/7
09/05/2017
What does modern slavery look like? | Analysis | Construction News
“They would lock us in when we weren’t working and threaten to fight us or kill us if we tried to leave” Jani, trafficked worker
When Jani came to the UK in September 2011, he believed he would find a better life. He had been out of work in his native Hungary and was in desperate need of money when two men approached him with an attractive overseas job opportunity. The offer? A wage of £2,000 a month, with both food and accommodation included, working for a small construction company in the UK. The 29yearold jumped at the chance. He had previous experience working on construction sites and this was the new start he’d been dreaming of. Jani bundled a few possessions in a bag and left for the UK. But from the minute he left home, his dream began to fade. “The car journey,” Jani begins, before pausing. “That wasn’t good.” When he went to meet the men who’d offered him the job, it turned out there were two other workers travelling with them on the long drive from Hungary to the UK. “There were five of us packed in a small car for twoandahalf days.” During the drive, the initially friendly job fixers’ demeanour started to change. After they crossed the border into the UK, the men took Jani’s passport away, telling him it would be safer under their control. They then drove to a cramped, terraced house in a small town in south Yorkshire, where the full horror of Jani’s experience began.
Modern slavery Salvation Army Many trafficked workers are locked in unsanitary accommodation
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/analysis/analysis/what-does-modern-slavery-look-like/10003324.article
2/7
09/05/2017
What does modern slavery look like? | Analysis | Construction News
Locked together in one room in a cold house with no heating or lighting, he and the two other young men from Hungary were let out only to work. The days were exhausting, starting at 6am and not finishing until 11pm, at least five days a week, carrying out various bricklaying and painting jobs. They were given scraps of cold food to eat and had only water to drink. Jani lost five stone in weight. If he tried to leave he was threatened with violence or death. Contractors take note Jani’s story is not an isolated case. The number of potential victims of human trafficking in the UK hit 3,266 in 2015, up 40 per cent from the 2,340 in 2014, according to the most recent statistics from the National Crime Agency. Of these, 895 were classed as adult labour exploitation, a category which includes the construction industry – up more than 50 per cent from 582 in 2014.
Labour trafficking and exploitation figures 20142015_National Crime Agency Source: National Crime Agency This dramatic increase in organised criminal gang activity was one of the drivers behind the Modern Slavery Act 2015, which is intended to drive down forced and abusive labour across all industry sectors. Most crucial for construction is the act’s requirement that commercial companies and their supply chains publish an annual slavery and human trafficking statement. Pinsent Masons partner and regulatory lawyer Tom Stocker says this requirement will have a significant impact on the construction industry.
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/analysis/analysis/what-does-modern-slavery-look-like/10003324.article
3/7
09/05/2017
What does modern slavery look like? | Analysis | Construction News
Domestic and overseas commercial businesses operating in the UK with a minimum turnover of £36m will have six months from 31 March to prepare a statement. “Most companies are not ready,” Mr Stocker states. Many firms are starting work on the statements but he says the preparation needs to go beyond asking: “Have you got slaves?” “It touches on whether you are abusing people’s personal circumstances,” he explains. “So, if you have overseas workers, are they using most of their pay for accommodation that you are providing? Are you removing their passports?” And the focus should go beyond company boundaries. The risk of workers such as Jani finding their way into a contractor’s supply chain is a real one. The website Help Free the UK from Modern Slavery, which is supported by the Home Office, provides a useful list of signs that could indicate a worker is a victim of modern slavery (see box). Risk areas Many businesses have already started work to comply with the act and its aims, but are reluctant to go public until they have worked out the detail and how they will implement it. “The problem is less for clients and more for contractors… they contract with hundreds of companies, whereas clients will mainly go to one main contractor” Major London developer
One major London developer says: “We’ve identified [what we see as] the main areas of risk for the industry: demolition, scaffolding and multiservice gangs.” The first two risk areas could be overcome by employing demolition and scaffolding contractors that are members of a certified industry organisation, he says. But he’s worried about how clients – and even more crucially, contractors – monitor the use of multiservice gangs. “The problem is less for clients and more for contractors… they contract with hundreds of companies, whereas clients will mainly go to one main contractor,” he says. Many main contractors are aware of the potential for forced or abusive labour to be hidden within second or thirdtier contractors. “This is my big headache at the moment,” one major tier one contractor admits. “How far down [my supply chain] do I look? And how do I get the level of comfort and confidence that it’s all good? That’s the question I’m worrying about the most.”
Spotting the warning signs PHYSICAL APPEARANCE Victims may show signs of physical or psychological abuse, and look malnourished or unkempt. ISOLATION Victims may rarely be allowed to travel on their own and seem under the control or influence of others.
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/analysis/analysis/what-does-modern-slavery-look-like/10003324.article
4/7
09/05/2017
What does modern slavery look like? | Analysis | Construction News
FEW OR NO PERSONAL EFFECTS Victims may have no identification documents and few personal possessions. They may wear the same clothes every day and what clothes they do wear may not be suitable for their work. RESTRICTED FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT Victims have little opportunity to move freely and may have had travel documents or passports removed. UNUSUAL TRAVEL TIMES They may be dropped off or collected for work on a regular basis either very early in the morning or late at night. RELUCTANT TO SEEK HELP Victims may avoid eye contact, appear frightened or hesitant to talk to strangers and fear law enforcement. They may not know who to trust or where to get help, fearing deportation or violence against them or their family.
As the UK construction skills crisis gets worse and firms look overseas for workers as a shortterm solution, the risks will increase. “This puts main contractors under more pressure to check that the subcontractors they’re engaging with are treating those overseas workers fairly,” Pinsent Mason’s Mr Stocker says. It doesn’t stop there. Another area of risk for both clients and contractors is materials, with some proving difficult to trace back to their origin. “Companies could publish a statement which says, ‘We don’t do anything’. The problem with this is you are unlikely to win any tenders” Tom Stocker, Pinsent Masons
“You can quite often specify material such as stone, but where you think it’s coming from one part the world, it’s actually coming from another,” the London developer says. “So you don’t know whether the labour that has gone into [producing] that has been employed properly.” This is also a challenge for contractors. The tier one says: “This is about looking at where we buy from within the UK as well as overseas. This could be a factory where it’s so far down the chain we can’t see it.” No action? There is actually no obligation on companies to take action to comply with the new law, but Mr Stocker says doing nothing is risky. “They could publish a statement which says, ‘We don’t do anything’,” he says. “The problem with this is you are unlikely to win any tenders.” “Firing them doesn’t do them any good, it just puts them on the streets. So it’s about trying to do the right thing” Tier one contractor
This is especially true with public sector and large commercial clients, which will start to use the legislation requirements in their tender criteria.
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/analysis/analysis/what-does-modern-slavery-look-like/10003324.article
5/7
09/05/2017
What does modern slavery look like? | Analysis | Construction News
Winning work isn’t the only motive to take action, of course, as the tier one contractor points out: “It’s our job to spot the signs and help them out of it. If they have come over here from a horrendous, povertypersecuted environment, and someone offers them £4 an hour and 10 people per room, then they will take it. “Firing them doesn’t do them any good, it just puts them on the streets. So it’s about trying to do the right thing. For most contractors it’s not a matter of ticking boxes. We genuinely don’t want a situation where people are in wage bondage or don’t have access to their own passports. That’s not what we are about.” For firms that don’t publish a statement, however, there are sanctions. The Home Office can get in contact telling them to publish one. If they refuse, they can get a court order requiring them do so. If that is ignored, firms could face prosecution. What now? “Contractors feel slightly daunted by this,” Mr Stocker says. “They feel it’s an additional layer of regulation that impacts margin. But the steps you have to take are relatively straightforward.” Most businesses will already have a system in place for carrying out competency assessments of their suppliers and subcontractors. Mr Stocker says it’s as easy as adding a few questions to your existing processes, extending them to cover slavery enforced labour. “The next thing companies would want to do is make their policy statement. This is similar to making a health and safety or environment statement,” he says. This should be a onepage statement for suppliers and internal staff, explaining that the company is committed to engaging only with people who have fair and proper employment practices. After that, Mr Stocker recommends delivering basic staff training that draws employees’ attention to the act. He says this should set out the company’s stance on modern slavery, including what the company expects of its employees and its suppliers. This could be done through a quick elearning platform, Mr Stocker says. A few steps are all it takes to help workers such as Jani, who remained trapped and abused in forced labour for months. Escape Jani was one of the lucky ones: he managed to escape. Over time, he befriended one of his captors, who trustingly left the door unlocked one day. Jani seized his chance and bolted, running straight to the police. The police referred him to City Hearts, a Salvation Army subcontractor which manages the government’s contract for providing support to victims of modern slavery, and the team there helped him to find the better life he had dreamed of. Sadly, Jani’s captors escaped too: by the time the police arrived on the scene they had fled and have not been traced. Knowing his traffickers are still out there makes it even more important to Jani to share his experience: “People need to know this story,” he says, to prevent the same thing happening to others.
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/analysis/analysis/what-does-modern-slavery-look-like/10003324.article
6/7
09/05/2017
What does modern slavery look like? | Analysis | Construction News
Jani’s name has been changed to protect his identity
How does modern slavery happen? “These men who are forced into labour are often responding to legitimate looking adverts,” explains Andrew Wileman from the Salvation Army’s antitrafficking response team. “They go along to an office, where they’re told: ‘There’s work available in the UK, it’s good pay, it’s building work, you turn up at the bus station on Friday, just bring along your passport and papers and don’t worry about the cost of your transport, we’ll sort that out.’ “Then they are met by reps of the organisation in London or wherever, after which they are taken to a house and start work but that is where the story unravels.” Mr Wileman describes a case in the North of England where 20 Lithuanian men were found crammed together in one house. “They’d been working 12 to 14hour days and were living in a fourbed council house, with no pay and were only fed once a day.” They had been carrying out labour for the building distribution arm of a wellknown discounter client, when a local resident who was concerned about their antisocial behaviour alerted the police. “There are a lot of examples of this,” Mr Wileman says. “Deadlines have to be met and somebody comes who is able to provide a certain amount of brickies to get the work done on time and very few questions will be asked. It’s just the nature of the beast.”
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/analysis/analysis/what-does-modern-slavery-look-like/10003324.article
7/7
What does modern slavery look like? | Analysis | Construction News
What does modern slavery look like? 25 February, 2016 By Robyn Wilson
Contractors take note Risk areas Spotting the warning signs No action? What now? Escape
The number of workers that are trafficked, exploited and forced to work in UK construction is rising. Construction News speaks to one of the thousands of victims and asks what contractors must do to eradicate the stain of modern slavery. “There were three of us all together in a room with no lights. They would lock us in when we weren’t working and threaten to fight us or kill us if we tried to leave.” Four years after his ordeal, Jani is telling me about the months he spent working in UK construction under conditions of what is usually called modern slavery.
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/analysis/analysis/what-does-modern-slavery-look-like/10003324.article
1/7
09/05/2017
What does modern slavery look like? | Analysis | Construction News
“They would lock us in when we weren’t working and threaten to fight us or kill us if we tried to leave” Jani, trafficked worker
When Jani came to the UK in September 2011, he believed he would find a better life. He had been out of work in his native Hungary and was in desperate need of money when two men approached him with an attractive overseas job opportunity. The offer? A wage of £2,000 a month, with both food and accommodation included, working for a small construction company in the UK. The 29yearold jumped at the chance. He had previous experience working on construction sites and this was the new start he’d been dreaming of. Jani bundled a few possessions in a bag and left for the UK. But from the minute he left home, his dream began to fade. “The car journey,” Jani begins, before pausing. “That wasn’t good.” When he went to meet the men who’d offered him the job, it turned out there were two other workers travelling with them on the long drive from Hungary to the UK. “There were five of us packed in a small car for twoandahalf days.” During the drive, the initially friendly job fixers’ demeanour started to change. After they crossed the border into the UK, the men took Jani’s passport away, telling him it would be safer under their control. They then drove to a cramped, terraced house in a small town in south Yorkshire, where the full horror of Jani’s experience began.
Modern slavery Salvation Army Many trafficked workers are locked in unsanitary accommodation
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/analysis/analysis/what-does-modern-slavery-look-like/10003324.article
2/7
09/05/2017
What does modern slavery look like? | Analysis | Construction News
Locked together in one room in a cold house with no heating or lighting, he and the two other young men from Hungary were let out only to work. The days were exhausting, starting at 6am and not finishing until 11pm, at least five days a week, carrying out various bricklaying and painting jobs. They were given scraps of cold food to eat and had only water to drink. Jani lost five stone in weight. If he tried to leave he was threatened with violence or death. Contractors take note Jani’s story is not an isolated case. The number of potential victims of human trafficking in the UK hit 3,266 in 2015, up 40 per cent from the 2,340 in 2014, according to the most recent statistics from the National Crime Agency. Of these, 895 were classed as adult labour exploitation, a category which includes the construction industry – up more than 50 per cent from 582 in 2014.
Labour trafficking and exploitation figures 20142015_National Crime Agency Source: National Crime Agency This dramatic increase in organised criminal gang activity was one of the drivers behind the Modern Slavery Act 2015, which is intended to drive down forced and abusive labour across all industry sectors. Most crucial for construction is the act’s requirement that commercial companies and their supply chains publish an annual slavery and human trafficking statement. Pinsent Masons partner and regulatory lawyer Tom Stocker says this requirement will have a significant impact on the construction industry.
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/analysis/analysis/what-does-modern-slavery-look-like/10003324.article
3/7
09/05/2017
What does modern slavery look like? | Analysis | Construction News
Domestic and overseas commercial businesses operating in the UK with a minimum turnover of £36m will have six months from 31 March to prepare a statement. “Most companies are not ready,” Mr Stocker states. Many firms are starting work on the statements but he says the preparation needs to go beyond asking: “Have you got slaves?” “It touches on whether you are abusing people’s personal circumstances,” he explains. “So, if you have overseas workers, are they using most of their pay for accommodation that you are providing? Are you removing their passports?” And the focus should go beyond company boundaries. The risk of workers such as Jani finding their way into a contractor’s supply chain is a real one. The website Help Free the UK from Modern Slavery, which is supported by the Home Office, provides a useful list of signs that could indicate a worker is a victim of modern slavery (see box). Risk areas Many businesses have already started work to comply with the act and its aims, but are reluctant to go public until they have worked out the detail and how they will implement it. “The problem is less for clients and more for contractors… they contract with hundreds of companies, whereas clients will mainly go to one main contractor” Major London developer
One major London developer says: “We’ve identified [what we see as] the main areas of risk for the industry: demolition, scaffolding and multiservice gangs.” The first two risk areas could be overcome by employing demolition and scaffolding contractors that are members of a certified industry organisation, he says. But he’s worried about how clients – and even more crucially, contractors – monitor the use of multiservice gangs. “The problem is less for clients and more for contractors… they contract with hundreds of companies, whereas clients will mainly go to one main contractor,” he says. Many main contractors are aware of the potential for forced or abusive labour to be hidden within second or thirdtier contractors. “This is my big headache at the moment,” one major tier one contractor admits. “How far down [my supply chain] do I look? And how do I get the level of comfort and confidence that it’s all good? That’s the question I’m worrying about the most.”
Spotting the warning signs PHYSICAL APPEARANCE Victims may show signs of physical or psychological abuse, and look malnourished or unkempt. ISOLATION Victims may rarely be allowed to travel on their own and seem under the control or influence of others.
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/analysis/analysis/what-does-modern-slavery-look-like/10003324.article
4/7
09/05/2017
What does modern slavery look like? | Analysis | Construction News
FEW OR NO PERSONAL EFFECTS Victims may have no identification documents and few personal possessions. They may wear the same clothes every day and what clothes they do wear may not be suitable for their work. RESTRICTED FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT Victims have little opportunity to move freely and may have had travel documents or passports removed. UNUSUAL TRAVEL TIMES They may be dropped off or collected for work on a regular basis either very early in the morning or late at night. RELUCTANT TO SEEK HELP Victims may avoid eye contact, appear frightened or hesitant to talk to strangers and fear law enforcement. They may not know who to trust or where to get help, fearing deportation or violence against them or their family.
As the UK construction skills crisis gets worse and firms look overseas for workers as a shortterm solution, the risks will increase. “This puts main contractors under more pressure to check that the subcontractors they’re engaging with are treating those overseas workers fairly,” Pinsent Mason’s Mr Stocker says. It doesn’t stop there. Another area of risk for both clients and contractors is materials, with some proving difficult to trace back to their origin. “Companies could publish a statement which says, ‘We don’t do anything’. The problem with this is you are unlikely to win any tenders” Tom Stocker, Pinsent Masons
“You can quite often specify material such as stone, but where you think it’s coming from one part the world, it’s actually coming from another,” the London developer says. “So you don’t know whether the labour that has gone into [producing] that has been employed properly.” This is also a challenge for contractors. The tier one says: “This is about looking at where we buy from within the UK as well as overseas. This could be a factory where it’s so far down the chain we can’t see it.” No action? There is actually no obligation on companies to take action to comply with the new law, but Mr Stocker says doing nothing is risky. “They could publish a statement which says, ‘We don’t do anything’,” he says. “The problem with this is you are unlikely to win any tenders.” “Firing them doesn’t do them any good, it just puts them on the streets. So it’s about trying to do the right thing” Tier one contractor
This is especially true with public sector and large commercial clients, which will start to use the legislation requirements in their tender criteria.
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/analysis/analysis/what-does-modern-slavery-look-like/10003324.article
5/7
09/05/2017
What does modern slavery look like? | Analysis | Construction News
Winning work isn’t the only motive to take action, of course, as the tier one contractor points out: “It’s our job to spot the signs and help them out of it. If they have come over here from a horrendous, povertypersecuted environment, and someone offers them £4 an hour and 10 people per room, then they will take it. “Firing them doesn’t do them any good, it just puts them on the streets. So it’s about trying to do the right thing. For most contractors it’s not a matter of ticking boxes. We genuinely don’t want a situation where people are in wage bondage or don’t have access to their own passports. That’s not what we are about.” For firms that don’t publish a statement, however, there are sanctions. The Home Office can get in contact telling them to publish one. If they refuse, they can get a court order requiring them do so. If that is ignored, firms could face prosecution. What now? “Contractors feel slightly daunted by this,” Mr Stocker says. “They feel it’s an additional layer of regulation that impacts margin. But the steps you have to take are relatively straightforward.” Most businesses will already have a system in place for carrying out competency assessments of their suppliers and subcontractors. Mr Stocker says it’s as easy as adding a few questions to your existing processes, extending them to cover slavery enforced labour. “The next thing companies would want to do is make their policy statement. This is similar to making a health and safety or environment statement,” he says. This should be a onepage statement for suppliers and internal staff, explaining that the company is committed to engaging only with people who have fair and proper employment practices. After that, Mr Stocker recommends delivering basic staff training that draws employees’ attention to the act. He says this should set out the company’s stance on modern slavery, including what the company expects of its employees and its suppliers. This could be done through a quick elearning platform, Mr Stocker says. A few steps are all it takes to help workers such as Jani, who remained trapped and abused in forced labour for months. Escape Jani was one of the lucky ones: he managed to escape. Over time, he befriended one of his captors, who trustingly left the door unlocked one day. Jani seized his chance and bolted, running straight to the police. The police referred him to City Hearts, a Salvation Army subcontractor which manages the government’s contract for providing support to victims of modern slavery, and the team there helped him to find the better life he had dreamed of. Sadly, Jani’s captors escaped too: by the time the police arrived on the scene they had fled and have not been traced. Knowing his traffickers are still out there makes it even more important to Jani to share his experience: “People need to know this story,” he says, to prevent the same thing happening to others.
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/analysis/analysis/what-does-modern-slavery-look-like/10003324.article
6/7
09/05/2017
What does modern slavery look like? | Analysis | Construction News
Jani’s name has been changed to protect his identity
How does modern slavery happen? “These men who are forced into labour are often responding to legitimate looking adverts,” explains Andrew Wileman from the Salvation Army’s antitrafficking response team. “They go along to an office, where they’re told: ‘There’s work available in the UK, it’s good pay, it’s building work, you turn up at the bus station on Friday, just bring along your passport and papers and don’t worry about the cost of your transport, we’ll sort that out.’ “Then they are met by reps of the organisation in London or wherever, after which they are taken to a house and start work but that is where the story unravels.” Mr Wileman describes a case in the North of England where 20 Lithuanian men were found crammed together in one house. “They’d been working 12 to 14hour days and were living in a fourbed council house, with no pay and were only fed once a day.” They had been carrying out labour for the building distribution arm of a wellknown discounter client, when a local resident who was concerned about their antisocial behaviour alerted the police. “There are a lot of examples of this,” Mr Wileman says. “Deadlines have to be met and somebody comes who is able to provide a certain amount of brickies to get the work done on time and very few questions will be asked. It’s just the nature of the beast.”
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/analysis/analysis/what-does-modern-slavery-look-like/10003324.article
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