Modern slavers go scot free – new report warns

• Only 56 convictions a year for modern slavery despite 10,000 victims 
• Modern slavery costs UK economy £33 billion a year 
• Overhaul of the system is needed to provide victims the confidence to work with investigators 
• More police forces need to prioritise the issue  

Thousands of criminals involved in modern slavery in the UK are getting away with the crime scot free – whilst costing the UK economy £33 billion a year.

That’s the finding of a major new report published by the Centre for Social Justice think tank and anti-slavery charity Justice and Care. A Path to Freedom and Justice, says much more needs to be done to properly support victims and give them the confidence to support investigations.

Researchers spent a year speaking to scores of survivors, charities involved in the fight against slavery, frontline police officers and local authorities. They found a system struggling to provide adequate support to the exploited or connect them with the criminal justice system, challenging the Government’s commitment to get tough on serious and organised crime.

The damning report says that slavery survivors are often being treated worse than other victims of crime, that the system dehumanises them and as a result fails to engage them in the criminal justice system – allowing slavery gang bosses to maintain and expand their cruel but lucrative exploitation of vulnerable people, many of whom are UK citizens.

It found that despite more than 10,000 potential victims being identified in 2020, there were only 56 successful convictions for modern slavery offences. The CSJ and Justice and Care have previously estimated, based on police data, there are more than 100,000 victims of slavery in the UK. The new report highlights the police estimate that between 6,000 and 8,000 offenders are responsible for the crime.

According to the CSJ and Justice and Care, the whole system needs an overhaul. They make twenty-four recommendations for change – including more support from the moment that a victim is found; speeding up decision-making processes to formally recognise victims; and for the police to make tackling slavery a strategic priority, with specialist teams and support workers in each police force – to get justice and help for today’s victims, while putting offenders behind bars to prevent the exploitation of scores of others. The report also calls on Number 10 to oversee the delivery of better value for money for taxpayers.

Given the extent of the issue, the report calculates – based on Government figures – that the cost of modern slavery to the UK economy is at least £33 billion a year.

Louise Gleich from the Modern Slavery Policy Unit, run jointly by the CSJ and Justice and Care, said: “Successive Governments have acknowledged that the slavery support system is struggling. Reform is urgently needed. Without it victims will simply be failed time and time again – while those responsible know that they have little chance of being caught.”

Conservative MP, former party leader and CSJ Chair, Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: “Only an approach, as recommended by this report, that supports victims and recognises their role in bringing the perpetrators to justice, will end this exploitation that has no place in 21st Century Britain.”

Christian Guy, the CEO of Justice and Care, said: “Modern slavery is all around us. This major report makes a number of recommendations that the Home Secretary can quickly implement – leading to the care that survivors need, offering greater value for money to taxpayers and ensuring those responsible are brought to justice.”