Ministers are to legislate to outlaw employment practices which campaigners say amount to modern-day slavery.

Civil liberties groups, unions and leading figures in the House of Lords have called for specific laws to ban domestic servitude and forced labour.

They say cases of such abuse remain widespread, with some migrants being held against their will on low wages.

Prosecutions are difficult, they argue, because of a lack of clear offences criminalising such practices.

Ministers had previously insisted current laws gave victims sufficient protection.

But the government backed down on Wednesday after it faced losing a vote on the issue in the House of Lords.

Campaigners say existing employment laws and legislation covering offences such as false imprisonment are inadequate and the UK could be taken to the courts because many cases are not being prosecuted.

They cite cases of domestic workers who have their passports taken and are not allowed to leave the homes of the families they work for.

They want two new offences created - one of holding someone in servitude, punishable by up to 14 years in prison, and a second offence of forced labour, punishable by a maximum seven year sentence.

'Harrowing cases'

Ministers agreed to new legislation after an opposition amendment to the Coroners and Justice Bill, backed by Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and crossbenchers, backing the measures looked set to pass.

"We appreciate that justice may not be done, not least to the victims, if there are real problems in bringing successful prosecutions which reflect the seriousness of this conduct," government whip Lord Tunnicliffe said.

Explaining the decision, he said evidence of "harrowing" cases of people trafficked for work in the UK, forced to live in unsafe conditions and paid illegal wages had been presented to ministers.

"We need to finalise the details but we are working on it," he added.

Baroness Young of Hornsey, who led the campaign to bring in new laws, said cases of modern day slavery were occurring all over the UK.

She said: "It happens in cities, it happens in rural areas, it happens in coastal towns.

"Victims may be subjected to unacceptable living conditions and forced to work 12 or more hours a day. They are also frequently subjected to vicious psychological abuse and to threats that keep them effectively imprisoned."

The BBC's home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said ministers would introduce a revised amendment to the bill within the next two weeks or return to the issue in the next parliamentary session.

bbc.co.uk 29 October 2009