Modern Slavery in Security

What Modern Slavery looks like in Security

The most challenging aspect of security in terms of worker protection is the widespread practice of chain sub-contracting, down to and including the operatives who participate in a legal fiction of self-employment.

Security contracts are notoriously price sensitive. Subcontracting chains, umbrella companies and informal labour arrangements, added into the mix, obscure who is ultimately responsible for employment conditions. The result can be underpayment, excessive working hours, unlawful deductions for accommodation or uniforms, and in the worst cases, coercion linked to immigration status or debt bondage.

Warning signs are subtle but they’re there. Guards working unsustainable shift patterns, being transported in groups between sites, sharing overcrowded housing, or lacking clear contracts. Clients may assume compliance without actively verifying it.

There is a business as well as a human cost: when buyers prioritise lowest cost over demonstrable service standards (and they do), they reward those willing to cut corners. Ethical operators are then forced to compete against exploitative pricing models. Security, like similar industries, is choking on this chain.

Addressing this issue requires more than policy statements. It demands transparent supply chains, independent verification of attendance and pay practices, robust right-to-work checks, and contractual mechanisms that incentivise compliance rather than race-to-the-bottom pricing.

The industry must ensure that principle extends to its own workforce. Anything less undermines both its moral authority and its commercial integrity.

Callum MacLeod, MD, Stamp Out Slavery