Dr Sam Scott from the Centre for the Study of Poverty and Social Justice at the School for Policy Studies has been awarded £230,000 research funding from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to examine the scale, nature and scope of forced labour in the UK.

The 18-month project will produce two separate publications: the first of these, due in March 2011, will examine the individual experiences that UK workers have of forced labour. The second report will focus on the scale and scope of forced labour across the UK, due for release later in 2011.

The study adopts the internationally agreed International Labour Organization’s (ILO) definition of forced labour, which might involve threats or actual physical harm to workers, confinement to the workplace, debt bondage, withholding of wages, or retention of passports and identity documents. The research will be based in Central-East Scotland, The Wash and South-West England.

The grant comes on the back of the 'forced labour' offence entering UK law via the 2009 Coroners and Justice Act, even though forced labour has been established in international law since 1930. Although the forced-labour offence covers all exploited workers, the main focus of the research will be on migrants working within low-wage sectors of the UK economy such as food production, catering and hospitality, care, cleaning, and construction.

Joining Dr Scott on the research project are colleagues from the universities of Hull (Professor Gary Craig), Dundee (Dr Alistair Geddes) and Liverpool (Professor Louise Ackers and Dr Joseph Assan). Olivia Robinson, an independent corporate social responsibility consultant, is also employed on the project to facilitate engagement with employers and business stakeholders.