The Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline

The Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline saw a record number of calls in 2023, marking an increase for the fourth consecutive year. We have taken calls and online contacts 24 hours a day, every day of the year. In 2023, we took 11,700 contacts, an increase of 20%. We reached 106 different nationalities and can now take calls in 250 languages. Of these contacts to the Helpline, we indicated 2,185 cases of modern slavery in the UK, with 5,876 potential victims highlighted. 

Sharing knowledge

Data from our Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline is hugely valuable. It feeds into all our other teams and influences their work. On 18^th April 2024, we hosted a webinar on the key findings of our Helpline Annual Assessment 2023. Over 200 people attended this and a recording is now available on our YouTube Channel. Since then, the Head of Helpline Services has been holding further webinars with organisations from around the country, including the South West Anti-Slavery Partnerships and the Clewer Initiative South. At these webinars, we shared general trends and information specific to that area, such as a breakdown of cases, potential victims, demographics, and how many referrals we made to the police or other organisations.

Trends

As you are no doubt aware, there have been several recent changes in legislation that affect people held in modern slavery, most recently the Safety of Rwanda (asylum and immigration) Act 2024. Although this Act has now been repealed, it caused a significant spike earlier this year from callers who had received letters about being detained or deported. Many of those who contacted us about this issue were residing in Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) and had no access to independent in-person support.

To increase our knowledge in this area, our Head of Helpline, Natasha Mitra, joined a ‘taskforce on victims of trafficking in immigration detention’, run by Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX). This group was set up to share information, best practice and any trends with each other. It ensured that we were up to date with our knowledge and could best support callers to the Helpline who were in IRCs.

Influencing specific sectors

The emergence of newer visa routes, such as the seasonal agricultural workers' scheme visa and the health and social care visa scheme, has introduced and embedded additional vulnerabilities and risks into the UK labour market. We are a part of the Seasonal Workers Scheme Task Force seeking to bring a multi-agency coordinated response to the issues.Our unique data continues to inform decision-makers and is recognised as a significant benefit to strategic discussions where data and evidence are often lacking or anecdotal. For example, in 2023 we witnessed a 30% increase in potential victims identified in the social care sector. As a result, we set up a Care Sector Hub to influence the sector and share messaging about the exploitation of migrant care workers as outlined in this blog. We also engage with media to raise awareness of issues we identify through the Helpline, for example, The Guardian spoke to Unseen to report on Modern slavery in social care in January 2024.