Thousands of victims of modern slavery are feared to have fallen back into the hands of their traffickers after seeking support, according to data shared with the Guardian.
People who seek help from the authorities are entitled to support and protection to recover from their experience if grounds are established that they have been trafficked.
But according to Home Office data disclosed under freedom of information rules to the organisation After Exploitation, thousands of potential trafficking victims who were made known to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) lost contact with it.
It is believed that some people fell back into the hands of their traffickers as they resurfaced at a later date and were referred again to the NRM. One person was referred seven times. In 2023, there were 17,004 referrals of potential victims of modern slavery wereto the NRM.
The Home Office data showed that between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023, there were 2,018 referrals that were not a first referral – many are likely to have had their initial referral before that year.
Maya Esslemont, the director of After Exploitation, warned that many trafficking victims were not provided with adequate support when they came forward. “Reform cannot wait. Survivors must be guaranteed access to support including safe housing and counselling the minute they are recognised by the National Referral Mechanism, the UK’s decision-making body on modern slavery,” they said.
“The ‘case by case’ decision making, in which some survivors don’t get help, is ruining lives. We know that survivors of modern slavery face a lottery of support, even after jumping through evidential hoops. These protections are necessary to reduce vulnerability and make it harder for exploiters to repeatedly target victims.
“As it stands, this data illustrates the UK’s failure to sufficiently support survivors.”
The freedom of information response stated that some of the referrals may have been made by different organisations regarding the same individual, but no breakdown of this data was provided. If there are cases of multiple records for the same person, it raises questions about the efficiency of government systems.
The former independent anti-slavery commissioner Dame Sara Thornton lamented the lack of data on retrafficking in a 2021 report, Retrafficking: The Current State of Play. “Much more is required to protect survivors of re-trafficking,” she wrote.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are committed to tackling all forms of modern slavery and ensuring that victims are provided with the support they need to begin rebuilding their lives.
“Multiple referrals do not mean individuals are falling back into the hands of traffickers. An individual must consent to enter the National Referral Mechanism, so an individual might be referred multiple times or encounter multiple first responders.”
