What is modern slavery?
Modern slavery is a term that includes any form of human trafficking, slavery, servitude or forced labour, as set out in the Modern Slavery Act 2015, and captures a whole range of types of exploitation, many of which occur together. These include, but are not limited to:
- Sexual exploitation: this includes sexual abuse, forced prostitution and the abuse of children to produce child abuse images/videos.
- Domestic servitude: this involves victims being forced to work in usually private households, performing domestic chores and childcare duties.
- Forced labour: this can happen in various industries, including construction, manufacturing, hospitality, food packaging, agriculture, maritime and beauty sector (nail bars).
- Criminal exploitation: This can be understood as the exploitation of both adults and children to commit a crime, such as theft, burglary, cannabis cultivation, drug trafficking and other similar criminal activities that are subject to penalties and imply financial gain for the trafficker.
- Human trafficking: this requires that a person arranges or facilitates the travel of another person with a view to that person being exploited. The offence can be committed even where the victim consents to the travel. This reflects the fact that a victim may be deceived by the promise of a better life or job or may be a child who is influenced to travel by an adult.
- Other forms of exploitation: human organ removal; forced begging; forced benefit fraud; forced marriage and illegal adoption.
In 2023, 17,004 potential victims of modern slavery in the UK were referred to the Home Office, which is a small increase to the 16,938 potential victims who were referred into the National Referral Mechanism in 2022. The number of potential victims of modern slavery in the UK shows a pattern of yearly increases apart from a slight decrease in 2020, commonly noted to be a result of the national lockdowns in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The number of referrals received in 2023 has been the highest since the National Referral Mechanism began in 2009. However, the increase in referrals does not necessarily correlate with there being more victims but could indicate that First Responders are improving at identifying potential victims.
There is no typical victim, and some do not understand they have been exploited and that they are entitled to help and support. Victims are often trafficked to a foreign country where they are unable to speak the language, have their travel and identity documents removed and are told if they try to escape, they or their families will be harmed.
Locally and across the United Kingdom, Criminal Exploitation generally and ‘County Lines’ drug trafficking, has become a prominent way in which people, particularly children, are increasingly exploited. ‘County lines’ is the practice of trafficking drugs into rural areas and smaller towns and cities, away from the major conurbations. Many factors contribute to the way in which vulnerable children and other individuals are exploited by traffickers and it is an important factor that a child can never consent to their own exploitation. The Council is fully aware of its designation as a ‘First Responder’ organisation under the National Referral Mechanism and its responsibility to identify potential victims and refer cases to the UK Human Trafficking Centre Competent Authority of the National Referral Mechanism.
The Council also works with other agencies to identify and tackle Modern Slavery, particularly through the Safer Rotherham Partnership (SRP), which is the statutory multi-agency Community Safety Partnership (CSP) for Rotherham, introduced by Section 6 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.
