Modern Slavery in the UK: A Crisis Amidst Immigration Crackdown

By Sachin Ravikumar

LONDON (Reuters) – Thousands of victims of modern slavery are being denied support because of Britain’s crackdown on illegal migration, according to more than a dozen sources, a decade after the approval of legislation that put the country at the forefront of the global fight against human trafficking.

Britain’s Modern Slavery Act of 2015 forced large businesses to tackle slavery in their supply chains and strengthened existing protections for victims.

However, those protections have been eroded by rules introduced in 2023 to curb illegal migration, as the political priority shifted to dealing with tens of thousands of migrants arriving in Britain annually aboard small boats.

Reuters interviewed more than a dozen individuals in government, law enforcement, the judiciary, and charities who reported that tougher laws were leaving thousands of victims trapped in modern slavery, both by denying requests for support and by discouraging others from coming forward for fear of deportation.

> “Modern slavery is not an immigration issue; it’s a human rights issue,” said Kathy Betteridge, a director at the Salvation Army, which has operated the government contract to support victims for the last 14 years.

New legislation required victims to provide greater proof of exploitation to qualify for state support. As a result, the share of rejections in slavery cases leaped to 45% in 2023, up from just 11% in 2022. In the first nine months of 2024, the figure was 46%.

In 2023, the Home Office identified around 17,000 potential victims of modern slavery, with an additional 13,587 in the first nine months of last year. Most referrals came from migrants often exploited in industries such as nail salons, car washes, sex work, and the illicit drug trade. A House of Lords committee has estimated there are 130,000 victims of modern slavery in Britain.

> “When the Modern Slavery Act was passed in 2015, the UK was said to be world-leading. That is no longer the case,” said the report published in October. It urged the government to amend the immigration rules.

Despite previous claims of unfair policies, Britain’s Labour government has not changed the legislation. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has retained a Conservative ban on asylum seekers claiming modern slavery protections, despite acknowledging its detrimental impact on trafficked women.

A Home Office spokesperson stated that the government is working on clearing the backlog of claims for modern slavery support and would strengthen legislation against criminal exploitation.

> “It is unacceptable in today’s Britain that thousands of vulnerable people – mostly women and children – are being forced to work against their will, often facing regular physical and sexual abuse,” the spokesperson added.

Misuse of the System

Former Prime Minister Theresa May described the Modern Slavery Act as “the great human rights issue of our time.” The law improved the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) for identifying and protecting victims.

Since the rules tightened in 2023, the government alleged that illegal migrants exploited the system to evade deportation. New regulations demanded a higher threshold of proof for modern slavery claims.

Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, a retired judge who was part of the House of Lords committee examining the Modern Slavery Act, criticized the government for not providing evidence of system abuse.

For the nine months of 2024, only eight people were removed from the NRM process for claiming to be victims under false pretenses, while thousands sought help.

Lack of Information

Reuters interviewed a Filipino woman who was denied entry into the NRM last year. Employed as a housekeeper and live-in nanny, she endured workplace abuse and escaped when brought to London.

Her initial asylum claim was rejected due to insufficient information. When seeking help, the NRM process showed that a different Home Office unit had failed to respond to inquiries about her case.

Official data indicated that rejections for insufficient information rose sharply, from 3%-4% before the rule changes to 54% in 2023 and 53% in 2024.

Harsh Treatment of Foreign Applicants

Data from the United Nations’ International Organisation for Migration (IOM) suggests that foreign applicants are treated more harshly under the NRM since regulations were tightened.

Analysis indicated that about 85% of British applicants received positive initial decisions compared to only 44% of foreign applicants in 2023 and the first nine months of 2024.

A Filipino woman managed to overturn her initial rejection with help from a charity and is now waiting for a conclusive grounds decision.

Hidden Crime

A former government official working on labor exploitation warned that the tougher rules would create a “chilling effect” on victim engagement, making it harder to catch criminals.

The Home Office funded £124.6 million for identifying and supporting victims in 2023/2024, but this did not include certain costs related to child victims.

Eleanor Lyons, the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, shared her concerns that the NRM does not sufficiently deter criminals from abusing the system.

> “We spoke to a victim who thought that coming forward to report their exploitation would lead to automatic deportation to Rwanda,” Lyons noted.

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