10 June 2024

With less than a month until the general election, Hestia and 12 other organisations supporting survivors of modern slavery have come together to set out a manifesto calling on the next government to re-new the UK's approach to supporting victims of this serious and brutal crime, ensuring the physical and psychological safety of victims is first priority.

The manifesto sets out five practical and deliverable recommendations from modern slavery experts to be implemented within the first 100 days of a new government, which will significantly improve the safety of victims of modern slavery and human trafficking. 

The recommendations are:

1. Return Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery to the Minister for Safeguarding’s brief, not the Minister for Immigration.
2. Suspend clauses 22-25 of the Illegal Migration Act 2023.
3. Prioritise decisions on the people in the National Referral Mechanism who have waited the longest.
4. Ensure no Public Order Disqualifications occur where potential victims have no legal representation through a review of the Modern Slavery Statutory Guidance.
5. Adopt a multi-disciplinary approach complemented by mechanisms for government accountability. 

Read the Manifesto for the first 100 days

The Manifesto is supported by Hestia, Ashiana, Bawso, BCHA, Black Country Women’s Aid, Causeway, Medaille Trust, Migrant Help, The Salvation Army, The Snowdrop Project, Saint John of God Hospitaller Services, Palm Cove Society and Unseen.

 

Together we form the collective of professionals who interact and engage with all potential adult victims in the Government’s National Referral Mechanism. Since 2011, we have supported over 21,000 recovering survivors of modern slavery. This puts us in a unique position to represent the views of the people we support, and advocating for an environment that places psychological and physical safety of victims above all else.

We believe these practical recommendations will have a significant impact on supporting victims and reducing the cadence of this terrible crime in the UK.

Longer term improvements

In addition, we have also pulled together a set of future-looking recommendations to help ensure that victims of human trafficking and modern slavery are once again put first. These recommendations are designed to deliver longer term transformational changes.

Read the Manifesto for long term improvements