What we have done
Following the public commitment made by the Council, to achieve the standards laid out within the Co-operative party Charter against Modern Slavery, a significant amount of work has been delivered. This has included specialist training for procurement officers and the production of guidance for commissioners and contract managers.
The Council has updated and reviews relevant policies to ensure explicit reference to modern slavery. Likewise, it’s previously updated Invitation to Tender documentation in respect of requirements under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and its Safeguarding Policy, that all suppliers and their staff delivering a contract must adhere to, which also sets out that they must have an up-to-date Modern Slavery Transparency Statement (where required by law) and that these statements are registered at https://TISCreport.org are subject of regular review.
To improve awareness and strengthen its ability to identify and respond to cases of modern slavery, the Council has maintained its commitment to having officers from across council directorates who have received specialist training to become single points of contact for modern slavery. This increased expertise has resulted in improved working practices and co-ordination between the Council, the Police and the wider partnership. The development of these officers will continue, and it is planned that extra officers will receive training during 2025/26 as part of a Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Training Plan.
As part of Safeguarding Awareness Week, 18th – 22nd November 2024, bespoke modern slavery training was delivered to 54 professionals from a cross section of agencies. This training focused on raising awareness of modern slavery and human trafficking, how to spot the signs and how to report suspected cases.
Between January and March 2024, Rotherham Safeguarding Adults Board commissioned four ‘Trafficking and Modern Slavery’ training courses that were delivered to 48 professionals from across the partnership.
Training was also delivered to 450 members of the health service, including General Practitioners, Nurses and other medical professionals at an open learning event held in November 2024. Again, this training focused on raising awareness of modern slavery and human trafficking, how to spot the signs and how to report suspected cases.
Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking awareness raising information has been distributed to social landlords within the Councils Selective Licensing Scheme. This includes how to spot the signs and how to report suspected cases.
Officers have continued to develop links with local and regional partners to ensure that intelligence and information is received in the right way and appropriately acted upon, either through responsive or proactive operational activity. As a result of work with the South Yorkshire Police Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Team, reporting pathways have been further improved with the introduction of an electronic reporting template available to partners.
Training and awareness raising material is available, with posters displayed around Council premises, an e-learning module available to all staff and specialist training for relevant front-line officers.
The section ‘Children from Abroad, including Victims of Modern Slavery, Trafficking and Exploitation’ within the Rotherham Safeguarding Children Partnership Manual was updated in December 2024 and now explicitly identifies modern slavery and human trafficking and presents a pathway response when the risk is identified within children’s services.
A previously established Modern Slavery Steering Group continues to oversee the Councils response to modern slavery and human trafficking and comply with the legislative requirements of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. An Action Plan has been produced to provide a clear structure for work to be carried out and this to record and monitor progress.
Modern Slavery continued to be a key priority for the SRP throughout 2023/24 and the Councils work, along with its partners towards eradicating it is reported to and monitored by the Safer Rotherham Partnership.
