The Modern Slavery Act (2015) is often cited as demonstration of the UK’s commitment to combatting exploitation and human trafficking. Yet the act offers little help to people who have been trafficked to, or in, the UK to recover and build a new life.
The UK government does not plan or enable needs-based support for trafficked people to rebuild their lives. It does not collect data on outcomes for trafficked people, including those who have been through its identification and support system (the national referral mechanism, or NRM). Indeed, a December 2017 report of the National Audit Office on public spending for reducing modern slavery states that “The Home Office has no assurance that victims are not trafficked again, potentially undermining the support given through the NRM”.
In 2018, 6,993 potential victims were referred to the NRM, a 36% increase on 2017. During the same period 1,151 people were positively identified by the UK authorities as having been a victim. A negative trafficking decision does not mean someone was not trafficked, but simply that there was not enough evidence to make a positive decision at that time. No pathways are put in place to protect those with a negative decision from further exploitation; nor is there data as to the current situation of those who have previously received a positive decision. Any information on outcomes is piecemeal and largely anecdotal. In 2016, when the Human Trafficking Foundation attempted to follow up with 73 survivors who had lost support, 18 were not contactable and completely unaccounted for. City Hearts, a safe house for survivors, found that 76% of a sample of clients who exited its services between 2011 and 2015 could not be contacted.
