About the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner

The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner is Eleanor Lyons.

Eleanor began her three-year term as Commissioner in December 2023. The Modern Slavery Act 2015 established the role and remit of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and its statutory functions and powers.

The Commissioner’s role is independent from Government and is to ‘encourage good practice sharing’ amongst all those with a role to play in tackling every aspect of modern slavery and human trafficking in the UK. The Modern Slavery Act also places a duty on public authorities to co-operate with the Commissioner, share data with their office and comply with requests. The legislation is clear that the Commissioner has no responsibility for or powers over individual cases.

The Commissioner is accountable through their Strategic Plan and Annual Reports. These are laid before Parliament by the Home Secretary.

IASC’s Approach

The Commissioner works closely with victims of modern slavery. Alongside this, the Commissioner works with charities and civil society, law enforcement bodies, local government, devolved administrations, the UK Government, health authorities, regulators, businesses, and international partners to identify and share best practice in:

Protecting people at greater risk of exploitation from modern slavery and improving resilience in communities to those who would exploit others;
Preventing modern slavery victims from being re-exploited;
Reducing demand for exploitation;
Joining forces with international partners to tackle the root causes of human trafficking and modern slavery and disrupt efforts abroad to exploit vulnerable individuals who may otherwise be trafficked to the UK;
Detecting modern slavery when it does happen and identifying victims;
Getting victims the support and assistance they need, which might include referral to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM);
Investigating modern slavery offences and prosecuting offenders;
Supporting victims' journey through the criminal justice system; and
Conducting or supporting research to improve our understanding of modern slavery in the UK and support the anti-slavery sector itself to identify gaps and to forge new solutions, collaborations, and directions.

IASC’s Priorities

The IASC’s Strategic Plan outlines the priority areas of the IASC’s work throughout their term. It is a three-year Plan which was developed after extensive consultation, a series of visits across the UK and engagement with lived experience advisory groups.

The core objectives detailed in the Plan are to: 1) Prevent exploitation and encourage a collaborative approach by making tackling modern slavery everyone’s business; 2) Protect vulnerable victims and improve identification and support; and 3) Increase prosecutions and support victims through the criminal justice system. This is underpinned by two objectives to improve knowledge and understanding of modern slavery and to ensure survivors’ voices are heard in everything the Office does. As the Plan was submitted to the Home Office in April and will be laid in front of Parliament.

Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner (IASC) Strategic Plan 2024-26

Prevention

Preventing modern slavery and revictimsation

Protection

Protecting victims: Improving victim identification, the NRM, victim care and support

Prosecution

Prosecuting offenders and supporting victims through the criminal justice system

Cross-cutting themes and focus:

Integrating lived experience perspectives into anti-slavery policy and efforts

Improving our knowledge and understanding of modern slavery

The IASC will represent all victims, with a focus on: children and young people; woman and girls; UK nationals; those affected by recent legislation