Report: The Policing Response to Modern Slavery: How has it Changed in the Last 10 years?

Every year, the number of people exploited in the UK continues to rise. More women and girls are being trafficked for sex. Children are being groomed and used by criminal gangs. And vulnerable people are being coerced into forced labour with false promises of decent work. 

The signs of worsening abuse are clear. Last year alone in the UK, over 19,000 potential victims of modern slavery were identified, an 80% increase in the last 5 years. Against this troubling backdrop and with law enforcement under strain, the policing response to modern slavery is deteriorating. In the past two years, the number of live investigations has fallen by 18%, and prosecution rates remain alarmingly low.

A decade ago, the landscape looked very different. The introduction of the Modern Slavery Act in 2015 marked a turning point, giving law enforcement the powers to pursue perpetrators and protect victims. Specialist teams were established, political and policing leadership was robust, and investigations surged.

Today, those powers exist, but the leadership and coordinated action that once drove progress have faded. The policing structures built to tackle modern slavery are being dismantled, leaving hard working officers ill-equipped to tackle modern slavery and its victims without justice. 

That is why this report is important now. It draws on interviews with frontline officers and police forces across the country to understand what progress has been made tackling modern slavery, what is working, what is broken, and where we have lost ground to the perpetrators. It is also a diagnosis of the current state of policing modern slavery, and a blueprint for change.    

From speaking to frontline police officers across the country, it is clear they are passionate about tackling exploitation. It is also clear that they are facing daily pressures with increasing workloads. I have met many who go above and beyond to protect victims and punish perpetrators, working tirelessly to address modern slavery in our communities.

However, they lack the dedicated coordination, resourcing and leadership they once had to tackle modern slavery. Whitehall’s rhetoric has shifted away from a focus on rescuing and supporting victims of modern slavery, increasingly conflating human trafficking with people smuggling and Organised Immigration Crime (OIC) - despite British nationals being the largest group of identified victims.

This shift is reflected in operational priorities: funding for modern slavery policing has been slashed, and more than half of the remaining Modern Slavery Leads in police forces now also carry OIC responsibilities, with the latter taking precedence. The Modern Slavery Transformation Programme became the Modern Slavery and Organised Immigration Crime Unit in 2020/21 resulting in modern slavery receiving just 30% of the annual funding it had in the five years preceding 2021.

Activity has not just stalled, it is regressing. Teams are being dismantled and merged, leadership roles have been downgraded, and modern slavery is being removed from police control strategies - in one region 50% of forces removed it from their strategies. There has been a drop in live investigations and weakened cohesion, drive and strategic focus behind the policing response. Modern slavery crime is no longer sufficiently seen as an issue of exploitation and the economic crime that it is. Perpetrators using horrendous means to profit off innocent lives are walking free, while their victims are stripped of all freedoms. 

This must be a Prime Minister and Home Secretary priority, as it once was. If the Government is to meet its commitments to tackling Violence Against Women and Girls, child exploitation and enforcing effective and fair labour standards – the policing response to modern slavery must be revitalised.

It is unacceptable that we are failing these victims. This must change. Tackling modern slavery must be at the heart of policing’s response to exploitation, regardless of the political climate and priorities. It has been before, and it can be again. It must be. This report makes clear: the tools can be rebuilt. The public will support it. The law exists. It is time to use it.  

To turn the tide, we must urgently restore modern slavery and human trafficking to the centre of our public protection mission. As survivors of modern slavery have explained recently: police “should be engaged with survivors where they are – not reliant on survivors going to them.” There needs to be a new national strategy on modern slavery, led by the Home Office, with proper funding and oversight. There needs to be clear leadership within Government and within policing, with modern slavery restored as a strategic priority.

We must ringfence resources and be more efficient and collaborative with the resources that do exist. We need to embed specialist teams, improve coordination and use of technology, and empower officers through meaningful training and national standards. The legal and strategic value of the Modern Slavery Act must be asserted to make charging under it the norm, not the exception.

Most of all, we must stop asking our frontline officers to fight modern slavery and protect the public with one hand tied behind their backs. 

You can read the full report HERE.