Referrals of potential modern slavery victims have reached a record high in the UK, with one UK police force setting up a specialist unit to train officers to spot the signs of the crime.
Modern slavery is a serious and often hidden crime, where one person is exploited by another for personal or financial gain. It exists in many forms, from trafficking and forced labour, to domestic servitude and criminal or sexual exploitation.
ITV News West Country’s Marina Jenkins has been given exclusive access to an undercover modern slavery operations in Plymouth, where they searched a car wash and other premises under suspicion.
She also spoke to survivors with horrific stories – like 20-year-old Rohima,
who said she "wanted to end her life", after being forced to work night and day in a bread factory and as a care worker.
The Home Office says it has been working to reduce the backlog of cases. Jess Phillips MP, who is the government’s safeguarding minister, said: "What I don’t want to do is mislead the British public to think that modern slavery is only an issue of foreign people coming over here, if you will.
"It isn’t. These are people on our shores, often being exploited by British people.
"When I first came into office, one of the things that I had seen was the amount of time the system was taking, because of the increasing volume.
"Which is why, almost immediately, I took action to try and reduce that identification and administrative time that means victims are left in limbo – and set about employing 180 new case workers, to ensure that we are properly identifying with speed, victims of this heinous crime."
The minister explained that the Home Office is currently undertaking a review and consultation "with victims themselves" to see how the system came be improved.
According to Unseen’s annual helpline assessment for 2024, the care sector overtook the service industry for the first time. There was also a rise in the
When a potential victim is found, they need to be interviewed by a first responder which can either be the police or local authority representative, but can also be carried out by a volunteer.
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