Contents

Context and Impact

Traffickers and slave drivers coerce, deceive and force individuals against their will into a life of abuse, servitude, and inhumane treatment. A large number of active organised crime groups are involved in modern slavery. But it is also committed by individual opportunistic perpetrators.

Grooming Process

Stages of grooming or recruitment tend to look like this:

Target

  • Observing Person (online or offline)
  • Finding out their vulnerabilities
  • Gaining and developing trust
  • Manipulating their vulnerabilities to recruit them
  • Glamorising their lifestyle
  • Sharing information with others in the group

Test

  • Testing their loyalty to them or the group
  • Offering them protection
  • Giving them a sense of belonging
  • Creating dependency on them
  • Introducing them to more established members of the group
  • Asking for favours
  • Asking them to recruit others

Trap

  • Experiences of physical, sexual or psychological violence
  • Trafficking
  • Humiliation and control
  • Reinforced dependency
  • Blackmail
  • Debt bondage
  • Isolation from friends and family 

Impact

Modern Slavery happens everywhere. It affects not only the victim but their families and their communities too. The most recorded exploitation of a victim was labour exploitation, including for children, largely connected to criminal activity and county lines (movement of drugs around the country by criminal gangs). It can therefore lead to an increase in criminal activity, making our community less safe.

In 2022, 16,938 potential victims were referred to the Home Office, representing a 33% increase compared to the preceding year (12,706 referrals). 89% of Conclusive Grounds decisions were positive, meaning they were found to be victims of modern slavery. 

Albanians overtook UK nationals as the most commonly referred, with UK nationals second largest nationality referred. 41% were children, a slight decrease from 43% in the previous year. 52% were adults, a slight increase from 50% in 2021. 78% were male and 21% female, seeing the highest proportion of male victims since the NRM began (Modern Slavery: National Referral Mechanism and Duty to Notify statistics UK, end of year summary 2022).

Exploitation can lead to roadblocks for victims later in life, such as:

  • complex mental health needs, including PTSD
  • poor health and illness, which may be untreated/untreatable
  • drug and alcohol dependency 
  • criminal records, affecting employment, education, and travel opportunities - in turn this can lead to lack of qualifications or poor income and quality of life
  • family breakdowns and homelessness or unsafe homes
  • extremism/radicalisation
  • financial exploitation can lead to blacklisting for fraud, no bank account - in turn this prevents most ordinary life opportunities such as employment or housing