Modern slavery | UK Regulatory Outlook October 2026

Immigration and Asylum Bill: amendments proposed to modern slavery supply chain reporting 

Since the Immigration and Asylum Bill's introduction into the House of Commons, a number of amendments have been tabled as it goes through committee stage.

Following criticism of the bill's existing modern slavery reporting reforms, backbench MP Liam Byrne has proposed a new clause which would replace the current voluntary transparency regime with a mandatory duty to prevent slavery and human trafficking across an organisation's own operations, franchisees, subsidiaries and supply or value chain. A breach would be a criminal offence, carrying an unlimited fine for the organisation and up to ten years' imprisonment for a director who consented to or connived in it. Affected victims would also gain a new civil right of action. A designated enforcement authority could separately issue public censure notices, compensation orders, monetary penalties of up to 5% of global turnover, and exclude organisations from public procurement. 

A related new clause would let the secretary of state designate categories of goods presumed to involve forced labour. Any organisation trading in the UK would then have to disclose, as part of its annual slavery and human trafficking statement, whether it makes available, imports or exports any designated goods. The designation would carry a right of appeal. 

Neither proposal is government policy, and both are among more than 200 amendments now before the Public Bill Committee. The clauses containing the bill's existing modern slavery provisions are due to be debated and there should be a clearer sense of whether either change survives committee scrutiny within the next week. Businesses that currently rely on the voluntary section 54 reporting regime should treat these amendments as an early signal of where parliamentary pressure is heading, and watch for developments as the bill progresses.