Bright Blue, the independent think tank for defending and improving liberal society has today published a new report, Properly protected: Reducing victims and abuses of modern slavery in the UK’s asylum system, offering new policies to mitigate the leading problems with properly identifying and supporting victims of modern slavery in the UK’s asylum system.
This report examines in detail the primary drivers of, trends in and policies for victims of modern slavery in the asylum system. It also unearths the leading problems in identifying and supporting victims of modern slavery in the asylum system, before detailing international best practice in mitigating these problems.
The report disagrees with the inferences of successive Home Secretaries that modern slavery protections are being widely abused by asylum seekers — for example, as the current Home Secretary implied, by those in detention pending removal — despite the significant increases in recent years in referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), the official process for supporting victims. This is because:
- Asylum seekers cannot self-refer to the NRM.
- In almost all circumstances it does not lead to a route to settlement.
- Over 90% of NRM referrals from detention — which can only be done by the Home Office — receive a positive reasonable grounds decision.
Dr William Prescott, Senior Research Fellow of Bright Blue and co-author of the report, commented:
“There are fears that the UK’s modern slavery system is being abused by asylum seekers, including by successive Home Secretaries. There is little evidence to suggest it is being widely abused by asylum seekers. But we do need reform of our modern slavery system for asylum seekers: one that guards against any abuses, however small in scale, but also ensures the vulnerable get the support they need and deserve.”
The report proposes eight new policies for UK central government to adopt to mitigate the problems of modern slavery in the asylum system. They seek to address four leading problems:
- Corporate failure to adequately address modern slavery in supply chains.
- Difficulties identifying modern slavery victims within the asylum screening process.
- Long-term care for victims of modern slavery exiting the NRM.
- Reducing any possible misuse of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
Recommendation one: Extend Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to require all public and private sector organisations with a turnover of greater than £36 million to publish a Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement on how to tackle MHST in their supply chains.
Private sector organisations with an annual turnover of over £36 million are required to prepare and publish a Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement on their websites each year. These statements must include an outline of the steps an organisation is taking to reduce instances of MSHT in their supply chains. However, this requirement does not apply to public sector agencies, representing a substantial gap in the UK government’s efforts to reduce MSHT in supply chains. We therefore recommend that MSHT reporting obligations be expanded to include public sector organisations.
Recommendation two: Amend Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act to introduce fines for organisations that fail to produce a Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement.
Although official data is lacking, unfortunately, the Independent Review into the Modern Slavery Act 2015 estimated that “around 40% of eligible companies are not complying with the [Modern Slavery Act 2015] legislation at all.”
Part of the problem is the current lack of enforcement mechanisms. While central government can apply for an injunction against non-compliant firms, there are no actual penalties for failing to publish a Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement.
To create a more powerful incentive for firms to comply, we recommend the government be empowered to fine non-compliant organisations.
Recommendation three: Amend Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act to oblige organisations to set out the steps taken to reduce MSHT in their Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking statements.
Section 54 (5) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 outlines suggestions for what steps organisations “may include” in their Slavery and Human Trafficking Statements. These possible steps include: “policies in relation to slavery and human trafficking”, its “due diligence processes in relation to slavery and human trafficking in its business and supply chains” and “the training about slavery and human trafficking available to its staff.”
However, as the phrase “may include” suggests, the statements are not required to include any of this information, the omission of which makes it more difficult to consistently evaluate what steps companies are actually taking to reduce MSHT in their supply chains.
Accordingly, both to pressure firms to assess the steps they are taking to reduce MSHT in their supply chains, as well as to improve transparency and comparisons around the effectiveness of those steps, we recommend that the wording of Section 54 (5) of the Modern Slavery Act be amended from “may include” to “shall include.”
Recommendation four: The government should conduct a large annual randomised study of compliance with Slavery and Human Trafficking Statements to assess the extent, and to facilitate the enforcement, of Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act.
While the UK government publishes data on the number of published modern slavery statements, it does not tell us what percentage of them comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015’s reporting requirements. Such requirements are important for ensuring transparency and monitoring the extent to which companies are taking their efforts to address MSHT seriously.
We therefore recommend that government conduct a large, annual randomised study to assess the extent of non-compliance with Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Those companies identified as breaching their obligations should then be fined.
Recommendation five: Amend the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) guidance: Adult (England and Wales) to mandate that all statutory first responder organisations appoint a dedicated Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for MSHT, responsible for handling NRM referrals, and that all individuals or teams in these SPOC roles must receive mandatory, specialist NRM training by government-approved providers.
Current regulations have resulted in widely diverging approaches to MSHT between first responder organisations. Further, the lack of a clear MSHT lead in many organisations has meant that many within them are completely unaware of their statutory first responder responsibility under.
To address this, we recommend that all statutory first responder organisations be required to appoint a dedicated Single Point of Contact (SPOC) for modern slavery, responsible for handling NRM referrals, and that all individuals or teams in these SPOC roles must receive mandatory, specialist NRM training.
By concentrating specialist knowledge and responsibility in a dedicated SPOC role or team, organisations can ensure that NRM referrals are handled by staff with up-to-date expertise and the confidence to navigate complex cases, rather than relying on the variable and often limited knowledge of a large, dispersed workforce.
Mandatory training for SPOCs would ensure that those making critical decisions are equipped to recognise indicators of modern slavery, understand the legal framework, and provide appropriate safeguarding and support. Moreover, SPOCs would be unable to commence their role until they had completed this training, meaning the organisation would not be complying with its Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement. This would reduce the risk of missed or poor-quality referrals, improve outcomes for victims, and help address the current ‘referral lottery’ in support provision caused by inconsistent local practice.
Recommendation six: The Home Office should commit to regularly publishing detailed NRM referral and outcome data for reasonable grounds and conclusive grounds decisions, broken down by local authority and first responder organisational type, and whether the individual has an active asylum claim.
While the Home Office already publishes quarterly and annual NRM outcome data based on responder type — SCA or IECA — it does not provide any regional or first responder-specific data.
This makes it difficult to identify which first responders are working effectively and which are not accurately referring and supporting victims of MSHT. By contrast, more granular, routinely published data would enable policymakers to identify regional trends, disparities in outcomes, and organisations and local authorities where intervention is most needed. By increasing transparency, it would also encourage competition between first responder organisations to improve their outcomes.
Accordingly, we recommend that the Home Office should commit to regularly publishing such data.
Recommendation seven: The UK should introduce a dedicated visa for confirmed modern slavery victims, modelled on the US T visa. This would give victims four years of definite leave to remain and subject to an annual cap of 2,000 people, to provide long-term protection for victims of MSHT and incentivise cooperation with law enforcement.
We recommend that the UK should introduce a dedicated visa for MSHT victims who have received a conclusive grounds decision, modelled on the US T visa. Mirroring the US scheme, this should provide definite leave to remain for four years. But reflecting the UK’s smaller population, the number of people issued the new visa should be capped at 2,000 per year and, reflecting the government’s impending plans to reform ILR, permanent settlement should typically only be made available after 10 years of continuous legal residency in the UK, taking into account time on this adapted T visa.
Adopting such a visa would be a significant improvement over the UK’s current VTS system, which offers only limited and uncertain immigration relief, often leaving many victims in limbo and vulnerable to re-trafficking or destitution. It would also likely strengthen law enforcement efforts and prosecution rates by encouraging victim cooperation, as seen in the US. To ease public concerns about annual net migration levels, the number of such visas issued should be subject to an annual cap of 2,000 a year.
Recommendation eight: Once recommendation five has been implemented, introduce a presumption that failed asylum seekers who are in detention and about to be removed are ineligible to be referred to the NRM and claim Temporary Permission to Stay for Victims of Human Trafficking or Slavery (VTS).
To counter any abuse of modern slavery protections, where the NRM simply becomes a backdoor route for failed asylum seekers to remain in the UK, as implied by the current Home Secretary especially among those in detention and about to be deported, we recommend that failed asylum seekers in detention pending removal should be presumed ineligible for permission to be referred to the NRM and remain in the UK under the VTS scheme or be granted a new T visa. To reduce the likelihood of genuine MSHT victims being protected, this presumption should only be introduced once all statutory first responder organisations have appointed a dedicated SPOC and they have received mandatory, specialist NRM training by government-approved providers, as recommended above.
By raising the threshold for a failed asylum seeker’s successful NRM referral and VTS claim, it should be possible to address any abuses while ensuring that genuine victims of MSHT can still access the necessary support.
