True scale of UK slavery likely to involve ‘tens of thousands' of victims

The number of people living in slavery in the UK is likely to be considerably higher than the current estimate of 13,000, according to the independent anti-trafficking commissioner, Kevin Hyland, who has claimed that the “true number is in the tens of thousands”.

Speaking to the Guardian, Hyland said that a better understanding of the real scale of slavery in the UK must become an “absolute priority” for government, if there was a chance of reaching as many potential victims as possible.

“The 13,000 figure is based on old intelligence and we’ve come a long way since then in terms of our understanding of the real scale of the problem we’re facing,” he said. “We know now that slavery here in the UK is far more prevalent than we have ever realised, and building a better response needs to be an absolute priority both domestically and globally.”

The anti-slavery commissioner said that victims are currently being failed by the national referral mechanism (NRM), which was introduced in 2009 to identify cases of slavery and trafficking.

“The NRM is a system designed to deal with hundreds not thousands of victims and needs to be more flexible and accountable,” said Hyland. “At the moment all of the emphasis is on identification but victim support must be at the heart of this process if we are to get people to trust us in coming forward and reporting these crimes.”

However, speaking after the publication on Monday of his annual anti-slavery report (pdf), Hyland pointed out that real progress has been made in tackling slavery crimes. The UK recorded 2,255 modern slavery offences across England and Wales last year, a 159% increase from the previous year.

Hyland – who formerly headed the Metropolitan police’s human trafficking unit and criticised the UK police’s poor efforts to report modern slavery offences last year – was “particularly pleased” by Northern Ireland’s efforts to combat slavery, which has passed on all slavery offences to the referral mechanism for the second year running.

The Met alone this year recorded more than double the number of offences of the previous year, amounting to nearly 500 crimes of modern slavery, the highest figure by far in any police force in the UK.

West Midlands recorded the second highest number of offences this year (215), followed by Kent and Essex (179), West Yorkshire (147) and Greater Manchester (139).

Detective chief inspector Phil Brewer of the Met’s modern slavery and kidnap unit said the increase in offences and referrals was down to clearer pathways for victims to seek help and protection; greater awareness among officers, as well as the public, at recognising potential victims; and better cooperation between agencies at referring potential leads.

More than half of all suspected victims referred to the national mechanism in 2016 were from Albania, Vietnam, the UK, Nigeria and China. The majority of child trafficking victims identified were British citizens.

This week, the Church of England is also mobilising its parishes to be the “eyes and ears” of local communities to identify signs of modern slavery and to support its victims in an initiative backed by the prime minister and archbishop of Canterbury.

The three-year project, launched at Lambeth Palace on Tuesday, is called the Clewer Initiative after an order of Anglican nuns funding the project: they were founded in the 19th century to help vulnerable young women.

Ten C of E dioceses have signed up to the initiative, with a further 14 expected to participate by the end of the year. It is hoped that all 42 dioceses will take part. The project will provide training and information on how to spot signs of slavery and victims of labour exploitation in areas including construction and car washing.

Hyland said faith groups had “influence, insight and rare avenues into the community – they are therefore a powerful tool in the fight against modern slavery”.