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 National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is the United Kingdom’s system that identifies potential victims of modern slavery. Annual statistics for 2023, as well as the 4th quarter October – December 2023 have been released in March 2024. The increases in referrals to the NRM are likely due to increased awareness of modern slavery, as well as potential increases in exploitation. Major findings detail:
4th Quarter, October – December 2023
- 4,142 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the Home Office, a similar number to the previous quarter (4,131) and a 6% decrease from the same quarter in 2022 (4,413).
- The most common nationality referred in the quarter were UK nationals (27%; 1,139). Albanian nationals were the second most commonly referred with 802 referrals (19%), with Vietnamese nationals third with 268 referrals (6%).
- Of the 4,142 potential victims referred, 48% (1978) were potential victims who claimed to have been exploited when they were adults, whilst 47% (1,945) claimed to have been exploited when they were children. Of these, 75% (3,097) were male and 25% (1,041) were female.
- Regarding the type of exploitation most commonly seen amongst referrals, the highest proportion of referrals were for criminal exploitation only (28%; 1,172). For adult potential victims, labour exploitation was most commonly reported (34%; 680), whereas child potential victims were more commonly referred for criminal exploitation (43%; 844). Though referrals flagged as county lines partly drove the increase in referrals for children within the criminal exploitation category between 2020 to 2022 (average of over 550 referrals each quarter), in 2023, the number of referrals flagged fell to an average of around 390 each quarter.
Overall in 2023, 15,247 reasonable grounds and 9,825 conclusive grounds decision were made. Of these, 55% of RG decisions and 66% of CG decisions were positive. The number of CG decisions was the highest annual number made since the NRM began.
The full Home office report can be found here, Modern Slavery: National Referral Mechanism and Duty to Notify statistics UK, quarter 4 2023 – October to December.
This month, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, with Human Trafficking Foundation and the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group released a report to assess the impact of the UK Nationality and Borders Act. After passing in April 2022, the provisions relating to modern slavery came into effect in January 2023. The report examines impacts over the last year on decision making outcomes, people with lived experience of modern slavery, and on organisations in the modern slavery sector.
As detailed further in this report, the Nationality and Borders Act made critical changes to processes addressing Modern Slavery in the UK, including:
- new definitions of ‘victims’ of modern slavery and human trafficking
- changes to the definition of the ‘reasonable grounds’ decision within the National Referral Mechanism
- the introduction of a procedure to exclude modern slavery protections on grounds of public order and bad faith
See here for or the full report Assessing the Modern Slavery Impacts of the Nationality and Borders Act: One Year On.
The Airports Council International have released the first edition of their handbook to help combat human trafficking. The handbook provides a variety of case studies of the work airports are carrying out in the anti-trafficking sector as well as providing an overview of the nature of human trafficking and modern slavery itself, including the types and forms of exploitation it can take.
The handbook includes sections on:
- Introduction: overview of human trafficking and the role airports can play in combating it.
- Guidance: spotting the signs of human trafficking in airports and how to respond.
- Staff Awareness: specific issues relating to staff awareness of human trafficking.
- Public Awareness: Information on campaigns, partnerships , and awareness raising of human trafficking.
- Case Studies
- Appendices: Law and policy instruments and resources.
The full handbook can be accessed here.
The Centre for the Study of Democracy has released a paper looking at human trafficking within the EU and how it can be best understood by placing the financial proceeds of human trafficking at the centre of analysis. The paper recognises that there are substantial gaps in knowledge surrounding finances in trafficking in human beings in the EU, and this in part stems from local level law enforcement lacking specific experience in dealing with organised crime finances.
The report is broken into five main sections, including:
- A general overview of the state of criminal money management (CMM), and CMM within the specific context of human trafficking.
- Contemporary trends and market structures for human trafficking in the EU countries studied.
- The role money has to play in human trafficking.
- The role and implications ICT has for human trafficking.
- Survey of the role money laundering investigations can have in tackling trafficking in human beings.
The report concludes by summarising the main findings from each section and making policy recommendations for future research and practice.
Access to the full paper can be found here.
The Freedom Fund have published a paper reviewing the use of Behaviour Change Campaigns, which have been used in healthcare and development sectors to try and influence and transform the behaviour of individuals. The paper reviews Behaviour Change Campaigns which have targeted issues such as child abuse, violence against women, and sexual violence in an effort to develop a future campaign that might tackle modern slavery and child sexual exploitation in Kathmandu. This paper has drawn on 28 different studies.
The paper has reached several conclusions. The main findings are:
- The focus needs to be on injunctive not descriptive norms;
- Behaviour Change Campaigns are effective in a wide variety of mediums. However, this is not to say that they will be effective in every medium and context.
- Campaigns often succeed in bringing about positive change in the targeted individuals. However, there is some evidence that adverse effects can result.
- Evaluation must be embedded from the onset of the Behavioural Change Campaign. Since Behaviour Change Campaigns can have adverse effects the continual effectiveness of the campaign must be subject to constant evaluation.
The report was released in January 2019, and can be found here.
Technology, communications, and data are being increasingly used for the purposes of combating human trafficking and modern slavery. A new paper by Liberty Shared considers the strengths and limitations of different data sources and methodologies of data collection, with a particular focus on ‘big data’ and ‘thick data’. It notes that the effective gathering and analysing of data has a vital role in understanding and tackling major societal issues such as modern slavery. The report also looks at partnerships that can combine with differing tools of data collection and communication to maximise the impact of different organisations with varied strengths and capabilities.
The report also makes note of the need for public-private sector collaborations, and explores how both sectors will stand to benefit greatly in their anti-trafficking and anti-slavery efforts from these partnerships.
The full paper can be found here.
In January 2017 a report titled ‘Understanding and Responding to Modern Slavery within the Homelessness Sector‘ was published. This was the result of an initial scoping exercise commissioned by the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner in 2016 to survey and better understand the links between modern slavery and homelessness. As part of this report, a leading charity in the homelessness sector, The Passage, was appointed to research the issue.
The report made use of 61 online surveys and 2 focus groups across England in conjunction with semi-structured interviews to research the links between these two issues. The key findings were that individuals living on the streets were vulnerable to exploitation, and that those who were already victims of modern slavery were at risk of becoming homeless if no effective long term support provisions are made available to them. As such, the report presents a set of recommendations designed to address the issues raised by the study and to improve collaborative, multi-agency responses.
The recommendations fall into three categories:
- Training and Raising Awareness
- Data Collection and Collation
- Partnerships
This report focuses on modern slavery and homelessness within England.
The Full report can be found here.
The Advocates for Human Rights published their labour trafficking protocol guidelines on the 31st of January 2019. The guidelines are designed to help communities identify and respond to labour trafficking victims throughout Minnesota, with a particular focus on young victims in their early 20s and younger. The guidelines draw on data collected from over 100 experts and are designed to account for the complex needs of a region that has rural, suburban and urban environments.
The protocol guidelines consist of 6 sections which give:
- Background and overview to labor trafficking.
- The universal protocol, which provides guidelines to the provision of an effective and comprehensive response to labor trafficking, including sections on collaborative responses, identification, and victim protection.
- A protocol implementation worksheet as a simple tool to assist communities plan their responses to labor trafficking.
- Sector specific protocol guidelines for use in conjunction with the universal protocol;
- Recommendations for changes to the law and policy to improve Minnesota’s response to labor trafficking victims.
- Appendices.
The report was funded Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, and the Minnesota Department of Health. The content is solely the work of The Advocates for Human Rights.
The Full report can be found here.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) guidance on Human Trafficking, Smuggling and Slavery provides guidance on trafficking and exploitation typologies, particularly involving children, which are complex and may include:
- domestic servitude;
- labour exploitation;
- criminal activity (e.g. cannabis cultivation, petty street crime, illegal street trade, etc.);
- sexual exploitation (brothels, closed community, for child abuse images);
- application of residence;
- benefit fraud;
- forced begging;
- illegal adoption; and
- sham marriage.
For the detailed Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on Human Trafficking, Smuggling and Slavery, read here.