Tag: Duty To Notify

National Referral Mechanism statistics UK, First Quarter 2024 (January to March)

Research/

Statistics for the National Referral Mechanism in the UK, for first quarter in 2024 (January to March) includes a summary and breakdown of the number of potential victims of modern slavery referred into the (NRM) or via the Duty to Notify (DtN) process.

Key Results:

  • 4,524 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the Home Office from January to March 2024, representing a 9% increase compared to the period from October to December 2023 (4,134) and a 5% decrease compared to the period from January to March 2023 (4,738)
  • 73% (3,291) of potential victims were male and 27% (1,226) were female; this is the highest quarterly number of referrals for females since the NRM began
  • 80% (3,628) of referrals were sent to the Single Competent Authority (SCA) for consideration and 20% (896) to the Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority (IECA)
  • the most common nationalities referred this quarter were UK (24%; 1,105), Albanian (17%; 791) and Vietnamese (11%; 493)
  • 5,161 reasonable grounds and 3,893 conclusive grounds decisions were issued this quarter; of these, 55% of reasonable grounds and 48% of conclusive grounds decisions were positive
  • the number of reasonable grounds decisions and conclusive grounds decisions issued by the competent authorities were both at their highest for a quarter since the NRM began
  • the Home Office received 1,125 reports of adult potential victims via the DtN process

 

See the full Home Office Report here.

The Illegal Immigration Bill

Research/

The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) has released new statistics which illustrates the high number of victims of slavery that are bound up in those seeking asylum in the United Kingdom. Overall, 2022 statistics are high – beginning from the increase in small boat arrivals picked up by first responders at the UK border, to the Duty to Notify process seeing the highest number of reports ever to the Home Office (4,580) – to the highest number of potential victims of modern slavery recorded through the NRM ever (16,938), a 33% increase since the prior year. As such the highest number of slavery cases were recorded in 2022. 88% of reasonable grounds cases (17,000) and 89% of conclusive grounds cases (6,000) that were considered by the competent authorities were deemed positive. This shows that the majority of cases claimed to be slavery, are indeed slavery, and the UK Modern Slavery Act plays a critical role in international human rights justice for those seeking asylum.

Imbedded with political issues surrounding high numbers of immigrants entering the UK, fears arise around the exploitation of this system that is designed to protect victims. 

According to NRM statistics, for the first year Albanian nationals were the highest number of referrals per nationality, exceeding UK nationals at 25%, mostly being child potential victims of slavery. Albanian nationals accounted for 27% of potential victims of modern slavery, mostly being adults, and many arriving via small boats to UK shores. This has given rise to backlash at the statistics with rhetoric suggesting Albanian refugees are ‘claiming to be slavery victims’ using the UK Modern Slavery Act. However, migrants also from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Syria arriving in small boats are usually unable to access visas, passports or conventional safe routes of immigration and are therefore highly vulnerable to the exploitation of human traffickers.

For further information, see the Home Office National Referral Mechanism and Duty to Notify statistics UK, end of year summary 2022.