A new report from Ergon analyses a hundred 'modern slavery statements' in terms of who is reporting and what companies say they are doing. The UK's Modern Slavery Act 2015 requires companies with a global turnover of more than £36 million to make an annual statement on their activities to address forced labour and trafficking in their own operations and supply chains.

The report includes:

• analysis of the sectors, location and sizes of companies reporting
• description of issues covered (policy, risk assessment processes, identified risks, training, performance monitoring)
• length of statements and level of detail 
• who has signed-off reports and how they have been published.

This sample represents voluntary reporters in that they pre-date the statutory commencement of the reporting requirement (financial year-ends of 31st March 2016 or later). But the report provides a pointer for how the new transparency requirement is being implemented in practice.