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Slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour / Human trafficking

s.2, s.1, Modern Slavery Act 2015 · Crown Court / Magistrates

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Sentencing framework

This guideline is structured to categorize offenders based on culpability and harm, leading to corresponding starting points and ranges for sentencing. The severity of the offence, prior convictions, and factors affecting the offender's circumstances all play a critical role in determining final sentences.

Maximum sentence

Life imprisonment

Court

Crown Court / Magistrates

Offence range

High level community order – 18 years’ custody

Aggravating factors

  • ·Previous convictions
  • ·Offence committed whilst on bail
  • ·Offence motivated by hostility based on characteristics of the victim
  • ·Offending took place over a long period of time
  • ·Deliberate isolation of the victim
  • ·Deliberate targeting of particularly vulnerable victims
  • ·Victim’s passport or identity documents removed
  • ·Gratuitous degradation of victim

Mitigating factors

  • ·No recent or relevant convictions
  • ·Offender has been a victim of slavery/trafficking
  • ·Good character and/or exemplary conduct
  • ·Remorse
  • ·Sole or primary carer for dependent relatives
  • ·Age/lack of maturity
  • ·Mental disorder or learning disability
  • ·Physical disability or serious medical condition requiring urgent, intensive or long-term treatment

Sentencing range explorer

Select the culpability level and harm category to see the guideline's starting point and category range. This is an educational illustration of the published guideline — not a sentence calculation, and not legal advice. Courts apply the full step-by-step process, aggravating and mitigating factors, and the totality principle.

Culpability

Harm

Select a culpability level and a harm category above.

The sentencing process, step by step

  1. Step 1 — Determining the offence category
  2. Step 2 — Assessing culpability levels
  3. Step 3 — Identifying harm categories
  4. Step 4 — Starting point and category range
  5. Step 5 — Considering factors reducing culpability
  6. Step 6 — Totality principle
  7. Step 7 — Ancillary orders
  8. Step 8 — Reasons for the sentence
  9. Step 9 — Considering time spent on bail

Guideline notes

  • This guideline applies only to offenders aged 18 and older. The maximum sentence that applies to an offence is the maximum that applied at the date of the offence.

Always read the full guideline

This is a one-page summary. For any live case, sentencing exercise, or legal advice the authoritative source is the Sentencing Council's own definitive guideline — including the category bands, step-by-step sentencing approach, and all statutory factors not captured here.

Open the full guideline on sentencingcouncil.org.uk

Source: Sentencing Council · Crown copyright, licensed under Open Government Licence v3.0. Summary fetched 2026-06-28. Not legal advice — see a regulated adviser for any live case.