Number of suspected modern slavery victims surges to record high

The number of suspected victims of modern slavery referred for help is up 15 per cent year-on-year

Nearly 5,000 people were identified as suspected victims of modern slavery in England in July, August and September (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The number of potential victims of modern slavery has reached a record high, new data has revealed.

A total of 4,758 people were referred for help and assessment by the government’s National Referral Mechanism (NRM) between July and September this year – the highest quarterly total since the NRM was launched in 2009.

This is up 10 per cent compared to the previous three months and a rise of 15 per cent on the same quarter in 2023.

Almost a quarter of referrals were of UK nationality (1,092), with the second most common being Albanian (523) and then Vietnamese (514).

The majority of adults in England were referred due to labour exploitation – 1,138 in total. One person was referred because officials feared they had been exploited for organ harvesting.

For children needing help in England, the most common form of exploitation was criminal, with 589 children 17 or younger referred for this reason.

288 boys had been referred over county lines exploitation between July and September this year.

Some 74 per cent of the UK nationals referred into the system were children (804 out of 1,092 potential victims), while children made up almost a third of total referrals for all nationalities.

The NRM is designed to identify modern slavery victims and prompts the Home Office to investigate their case. Anyone classified as a victim can get access to support, such as accommodation, legal aid and counselling but it can take years to get a final decision.

People cannot apply for modern slavery help through the NRM, they have to be referred by specific organisations - such as the police or border force.

Some charities are also allowed to make referrals into the NRM, but The Salvation Army – which runs a modern slavery victim care contract for the government – said this month that they have been seeing less potential victims seeking their help.

A total of 2,741 potential modern slavery victims sought help from the charity last year, down 22 per cent on the year before. They said this might have been due to recent changes to immigration laws that have made people more scared to seek help.

Stricter eligibility criteria, brought in under the Conservative government, have also made it harder for people to be officially recognised as victims of modern slavery, The Salvation Army said.

Major Kathy Betteridge, director of modern slavery at the charity, said: “We remain worried that, as well as fewer people able to access vital support, many more remain trapped in exploitation, too fearful to come forward because they can’t trust they will be treated as victims of crime. Meanwhile this vile trade in human life is still prevalent in the UK today.”

Avril Sharp, from modern slavery charity Kalayaan, responded to Thursday’s figures, saying: “There is every indication that the numbers will continue to rise.”

She called for the government to review the number of organisations - also known as first responders - who can refer victims into the NRM. She continued: “For the past two years Kalayaan, the UK’s oldest non-statutory first responder organisation, has been urging the government to review this given the serious risks survivors face in the absence of a functioning first responder system.

“Without being able to access the NRM via a first responder, survivors remain at unacceptable risk of further harm, including being re-trafficked.”

Assessment under the NRM determines whether, on the balance of probabilities, someone has “reasonable grounds” for statutory access to medical, psychological and legal support - meaning they are considered potential victims.

They are then assessed again and, if considered to be a confirmed victim, given a “positive conclusive grounds” decision.The Home Office said 4,953 reasonable grounds and 5,188 conclusive grounds decisions were issued between July and September.

This was the highest number of conclusive grounds decisions issued for any quarter since the NRM began, representing a 35 per cent increase from the previous record between January and March 2024.

But it represents the lower proportion of positive reasonable grounds decisions granted since records began in 2009.

The Home Office has started to recruit 200 staff to clear the backlog of some 20,000 modern slavery cases left by the last government.

Up to the end of September 2024, 13,587 people have been referred for help as suspected modern slaves this year.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Modern slavery is a scourge that dehumanises and traumatises people for profit, and we are committed to tackling it in all its forms.

“We recognise that survivors are waiting far too long for a decision. That is why we are hiring 200 new decision-makers to clear this backlog in two years and ensure survivors get the certainty and support they need to rebuild their lives.”