About
The Modern Slavery Intelligence Network (MSIN) is a pioneering non-profit collaboration in the UK food and agriculture sector created in response to the findings of Operation Fort, the UK’s largest ever modern slavery investigation.
Coming together in 2020, 14 member companies (including retailers, manufacturers and processors) engaged in an 18-month pilot to develop an innovative and proactive intelligence-sharing mechanism to enhance their effectiveness in disrupting modern slavery and labour exploitation within the UK. Information generated by the network will be used to detect, prevent and disrupt modern slavery and labour exploitation activity in their industry sector, protecting workers and improving outcomes for those directly impacted. The project also benefits from the strong personal support of the former Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Dame Sara Thornton DBE QPM, who continues to highlight and champion the work of the MSIN.
Why MSIN?
The UK food supply chain is a high risk sector for modern slavery and labour exploitation. Intelligence shared by MSIN members can generate new insights and protect those vulnerable to labour exploitation in the sector.
Operation Fort & Origin
On 5 July 2019, eight members of a Polish criminal gang were convicted of slavery, trafficking and money laundering offences. They were part of the largest modern slavery network ever to be uncovered in the UK.
Although Operation Fort, the ongoing investigation run by West Midlands Police, identified 92 potential victims, police estimate that as many as 400 Polish nationals could have been exploited. Their ages ranged from 17 to a man in his sixties. Most had little or no English language skills.
Operation Fort is similar to many other modern slavery cases in encompassing many different types of crime, including modern slavery, human trafficking, fraud, deception, theft and physical abuse. All parties, including law enforcement, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), banks, retailers, suppliers and labour providers can learn from this difficult experience.
How it Works
Members share intelligence through a secure and confidential online database managed by STOP THE TRAFFIK Group (STTG).
STOP THE TRAFFIK Group (STTG) analyse and enrich intelligence to generate insights and trends. This is then anonymised, redacted and posted in a shared database for all members.
STOP THE TRAFFIK Group (STTG) provides members with alerts and expert guidance on modern slavery prevention and remediation in response to the generated insights.
People
MSIN Board
The MSIN Board is comprised of senior leaders from across the UK food and agribusiness
Paul Willgoss
Independent Chair, MSIN
Claire Donovan
CEO, MSIN
Claire Binnington
Group Technical and Sustainability Director, Greencore
Ross Dennison
Technical Director, Bakkavor
Lucinda Langton
Head of Sustainability, M&S Food
John Shropshire
Chairman, G's Group
Helen Sisson
Technical Director, Two Sisters Food Group
Claire Soper-Lorains
Group Quality, Technical and Sustainability Director, Tesco
Andrew York
Human Rights Manager, Pilgrim’s UK
Stop The Traffic
MSIN is supported by the NGO and independent international charity, STOP THE TRAFFIK, to provide a secure platform for information and intelligence sharing, along with expert analysis and guidance on modern slavery prevention and remediation.
Become a Member
Join like-minded businesses from across the industry; share data, validate sources and contribute to a broader picture of trends to provide opportunities to disrupt or prevent labour exploitation