Slavery: Hospitality Industry
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the prevalence of modern slavery and labour exploitation in the hospitality sector.
Answered by Jess Phillips
The Government takes reports of labour exploitation in the hospitality sector very seriously, and we remain committed to tackling the crime of modern slavery – wherever it occurs.
The Director of Labour Market Enforcement (DLME) has a statutory duty under the Immigration Act 2016 to undertake an annual assessment of the scale and nature of non-compliance in the labour market. Sectors which include hospitality were not identified as a high risk for non-compliance in the DLME’s 2025-26 annual Labour Market Enforcement Strategy.
The Government is establishing the Fair Work Agency (FWA) through the Employment Rights Bill. The FWA will bring together the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate, and HMRC’s National Minimum Wage Team. This will ensure a more cohesive and streamlined response to exploitation. The Fair Work Agency will have strong powers to investigate and take action against a range of labour market abuses, including serious exploitation and modern slavery in the hospitality sector. Once established, the FWA will take on the DLME’s role of assessing non-compliance in the labour market.
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