Recently the Home Office published their annual modern slavery statistics. This showed a record high number of people identified as possible victims last year at 23,411. However, half of adults are still not able to access support.

Our analysis of last year’s data suggested that 60% of adults who were thought to be victims of modern slavery were missing out on support because they failed to meet higher evidence requirements introduced in January 2023. These new statistics for 2025 show this is still a problem with half (49%) of all adults referred to the Home Office last year still falling at this first hurdle and therefore unable to receive any support.

When first responders i.e. a police officer, immigration official, social worker or a small number of specialist charities, think someone is a victim of modern slavery they can refer them to the Home Office’s ‘National Referral Mechanism’ (NRM). This two-stage process is the way the government officially identifies who is a victim of modern slavery.  

The main purpose of the NRM is to act as a pathway for victims to receive support to help them recover from their exploitation. For most adults this is their only route to support – but only if they get positive decision at the first stage of the process (called ‘reasonable grounds’). 

If half of the adults being referred are turned away at this early stage that raises huge questions about the effectiveness of the identification process. It also creates the risk that vulnerable people who are denied support will go back to being exploited. 

On average these decisions are made within 6 days. The longer it takes to make a decision, the longer people have to wait for support, so swift decisions are important – but so is accuracy.  

Justice & Care is concerned that decisions are being made so quickly there is little time for additional information to be provided to the decision-makers with short timescales for any further details to be sent through. We also know that many referral forms are poorly completed which may be due to a lack of training for the first responders making the referral.   

Our own Victim Navigators have supported a number of survivors who although they received a negative reasonable grounds decision, the police continued to investigate, and the Navigator provided ongoing support to the victim including advocating for the Home Office to reconsider the NRM decision. 

It is good to see an increase in the proportion of adults getting the positive decision they need to access support since last year. But this is still far below the level of 90% before the Home Office introduced the higher evidence test. In fact, even though there were over 5,000 more adults referred to the NRM in 2025 than in 2022, 1,000 fewer of them got a positive reasonable grounds decision and were able to access support. 

The government will shortly be publishing its response to a public call for evidence as part of a plan to reform the NRM. Ensuring the right balance between speed and quality of decision-making must be at the heart of any reforms.  Unless the NRM works as a route for vulnerable victims to access support it is failing to fulfil its purpose.  Importing or transferring a person for sexual exploitation is punishable by 3–10 years’ imprisonment. Smuggling of migrants is fully criminalised for the first time, with penalties of up to life imprisonment, and those who instigate, aid, or conspire may face the same punishment as principal offenders.