How can we tackle modern slavery if those on the frontline don’t know what it looks like?

Modern slavery and human trafficking are complex crimes. Often survivors do not recognise themselves as victims because perpetrators are adept at making them believe their mistreatment is normal. 

Traffickers may tell victims it is normal to not receive full pay, or suffer poor working conditions, in certain industries or countries. Victims may be told that, because of their immigration status, gender or disability, law enforcement will not take them seriously if they come forward.

Alongside civil society, certain agencies play an important role in identifying cases of exploitation, sharing information with survivors, and referring them for support. Yet, these ‘first responders’, who have a legal duty to identify modern slavery, are not all trained to do so.  

Data obtained by After Exploitation and the UK BME Anti-Slavery Network (BASNET) has found that as many as one in four (26%) local councils in England offer no standalone training on mo dern slavery to staff. Even fewer (7%) offered the ‘gold standard’ of recurring classroom learning and an e-learning resource, with half offering only the latter. 

So, what happens when staff have a duty to recognise something they may know nothing about? Either survivors slip through the net entirely or only a certain type of survivor, who fits the professional’s preconceived notion of exploitation, ends up being identified. This is a serious problem, given how broad the issue of ‘exploitation’ really is.

For example, some survivors are not held under lock and key, but are instead trusted to go grocery shopping for perpetrators because both parties know the victims’ family will be killed if they step a foot out of place.

Some survivors are not dishevelled and malnourished, but are young children wearing designer clothes, groomed by gangs under the threat of physical and sexual violence.

Some survivors are not foreign nationals in the sex industry, but are a variety of nationalities including British, working below minimum wage in the construction industry without protective equipment.

Yet, despite the impact stereotyping has on our ability to identify modern slavery, our research found that some local councils provide training which relies on prejudiced tropes or insensitive characterisations of modern slavery. Multiple councils referred to ‘illegal migrants’ as a cohort at risk of trafficking, which needlessly stigmatises the group they should be helping.

• We took the Home Office to task for lying on modern slavery. We still don’t have answers
• I was forced to work unpaid and never let out of the house. Modern slavery is all around us in the UK

Worryingly, those local councils that do offer training often provided staff with materials which were out-of-date, with no reference to new laws which have come into place since 2022. For example, the Nationality and Borders Act puts some survivors at risk of deportation and detention, but information on how staff can explain certain rights to survivors were rarely included in the training materials shared by the local authorities. 

Others relied on stereotypical case studies with no further information about how such demographics could be sensitively supported. One council gave the example of a ‘Thai trans sex worker’ with no follow-up information on how to support trans or foreign national survivors, nor how to engage with people being sexually exploited. Very few local authorities confirmed that issues like cultural sensitivity, equality, diversity and inclusion were taken into account as part of their training offering. Only 39 (12%) said these themes were covered. In this way, professionals are not equipped to build trust with survivors, who may fear sharing details of their abuse due to cultural barriers.

At After Exploitation, experts with lived experience of modern slavery often tell us that opportunities to refer them for support were missed because they did not look or behave like the media portrayal of a ‘typical’ victim. In some cases, experts with lived experience now supporting our research, were initially told they could not be referred for counselling or safe housing as a victim, because of their immigration status. Some British victims have been told the same.

If professionals with a legal duty to inform victims of their rights are not being trained to do so, what hope do survivors have of recovery and justice?

Survivors of modern slavery face so many challenges in the UK right now, from homelessness to inconsistent mental health support. It is vital that professionals, at the very least, know how to recognise what survivors are going through and are aware of how best to support them.

Maya Esslemont is the director of After Exploitation.

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