The UK Home Office has published an end of year summary for 2020 modern slavery statistics. The statistics cover both referrals into the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) and those referred via the Duty to Notify (DtN) process.

In 2020, 10,613 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the NRM, compared to 10,616 in 2019. This is the first time when the NRM referrals had not increased since the preceding year. The summary prepared by the Home Office points out that this may be a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, noting that lockdown measures may have resulted in victims being less likely to interact with first responders.

In 2020, number of adult referrals was 5,087 (48%) whilst child referrals amounted to 4,946 (47%). 5% of referrals were of unknown age. Out of the potential victims, 26% (2,752) were female and 74% (7,826) were male. For adult potential victims, 70% (3,540) were male and 30% (1,538) were female, whilst for child potential victims, 78% (3,843) were male and 22% (1,079) were female.

The most common type of exploitation for adults was labour exploitation and for minors was criminal exploitation. Overall, criminal exploitation only, accounted for 34% (3,568) of all referrals, and an additional 15% (1,590) of cases referred for criminal exploitation combined with other exploitation types.

UK, Albanian and Vietnamese citizens remain the most common nationalities referred to the NRM.

Additionally, in 2020, the Home Office was notified of an additional 2,178 potential adult victims via the DtN process. The DtN process requires public authorities in England and Wales to notify the Home Office of potential victims who do not consent to enter the NRM.

For the full summary, please see here.