Putting victims first: Renewing the UK commitment to the safety of victims of trafficking and modern slavery.

Introduction:

Nearly a decade on from the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the landscape of modern slavery and human trafficking in the UK has altered beyond recognition. As a coalition of modern slavery support providers working to support survivors since 2011, we are calling upon a future government to re-new the UK's approach to supporting victims of these serious and brutal crimes, ensuring the physical and psychological safety of victims is first priority.

This Manifesto sets out five practical and deliverable recommendations from Modern Slavery experts to be implemented within the first 100 days of a new government, to help significantly improve the safety of victims of modern slavery and human trafficking and limit costly and unproductive vetting procedures.

About the authors:

All the contributors are providers of support to victims under the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract. This includes The Salvation Army and 12 other subcontractors. Together we form the collective of professionals who interact and engage with all potential adult victims in the National Referral Mechanism. Since 2011, we have supported a total of 21,824 recovering survivors of Modern Slavery. This puts us in a unique position to see how the sector has evolved over the last 13 years and how this has been experienced by survivors we support.

We represent the views of the people we support, and are advocating for an environment that places psychological and physical safety of victims above all else. We have drawn on our professional knowledge and expertise in both primary and secondary legislation to suggest small changes, that would have significant impact on supporting victims and reducing the cadence of this terrible crime in the UK.

Recommendations:

1. Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery to return to the Minister for Safeguarding’s brief, and not sit with the Minister for Immigration.
2. Suspend clauses 22-25 of the Illegal Migration Act 2023.
3. Prioritise decisions on the people in the National Referral Mechanism who have waited the longest.
4. Ensure no Public Order Disqualifications occur where potential victims have no legal representation through a review of the Modern Slavery Statutory Guidance.
5. Adopt a multi-disciplinary approach complemented by mechanisms for government accountability.

Read further details here.