Human Trafficking, Modern Slavery and Exploitation

"Modern slavery" is an umbrella term used in the UK for situations where one person controls another and exploits them, removing their real freedom to leave. It covers slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour and human trafficking.

It is not about locks and chains. Control is usually built from debt, threats, deception, isolation, immigration fears and small amounts of money, so that leaving feels impossible rather than being physically prevented.

Human trafficking means arranging or facilitating the travel of another person with a view to exploiting them. "Travel" can mean arriving in the UK, but it can equally mean being moved between towns, houses or workplaces inside the UK.

Consent does not make it lawful. Somebody can agree to travel or to a job and still be trafficked, because the agreement was obtained by deception or under pressure.

British citizens are trafficked within the UK, including children moved between cities to sell drugs, women moved between flats for sexual exploitation, and workers moved between farms or car washes.

Nationality, language and immigration status are not the test. What matters is whether somebody is being controlled and exploited.

Exploitation means using a person for someone else's gain in a way that removes their real choice: unpaid or barely paid work, work under threat, sexual exploitation, forced criminal activity, forced begging, or removal of organs.

Poor pay or a bad employer alone is not modern slavery. Withheld wages combined with threats, debt, confinement or being unable to leave points to something far more serious.

Adults and children, men and women, British nationals and people from overseas, disabled people and people with care or support needs, people with settled homes and people who are homeless.

It is a mistake to assume only foreign nationals are affected, and it is a mistake to assume somebody must look frightened or destitute. Some people affected have a phone, wages paid into an account and apparent freedom of movement.

Reasons commonly include fear of violence to themselves or their family, a debt they believe they owe, having no documents, no money, no English, nowhere to sleep, fear of the police or immigration, shame, or having been told that they have committed crimes and will be arrested.

Some people have been moved so often that they genuinely do not know where they are. Others have been told repeatedly that nobody will believe them.

Threats may be direct, or they may be demonstrations: violence towards somebody else, damage to belongings, or descriptions of what happened to a person who tried to leave.

Threats to relatives, including relatives abroad, are among the most powerful forms of control, because the person cannot check whether their family is safe.

A "debt" is often invented and never reduces: travel costs, rent, tools, transport, food, fines for mistakes, interest. The person works constantly and is told they still owe money.

Debt bondage of this kind is a recognised indicator of forced labour, not a genuine loan, and no lawful employer runs a system where a worker can never pay their way out.

Signs include wages paid to somebody else's account, cards and PINs held by another person, pay "kept safe" for the worker, deductions no one explains, and being handed small amounts of cash instead of proper pay.

If you are safe to do so, keep any record of hours worked and money received. Do not create risk to gather evidence — the police and specialist services can obtain records themselves.

Nobody — no employer, landlord, agency or relative — has a legal right to keep another adult's passport, biometric card, birth certificate or bank card against their will.

Documents can be replaced, and missing documents do not prevent you from asking for help. Do not try to retrieve documents from somebody dangerous.

Exploiters routinely tell people that contacting anyone will lead to detention or removal, that their status depends on the exploiter, or that they have committed an offence by working.

Advice about immigration should come only from a solicitor or an adviser regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority. This page cannot give immigration advice, and we cannot promise what any immigration decision will be.

Where a family is being threatened, safety planning has to include them. Say so when you speak to the police or a specialist service — it changes what they can put in place, and it explains why leaving may not feel possible.

Isolation is a method: no phone or a monitored phone, no address, no registration with a GP, no contact with neighbours, always accompanied, transported between sites, and never left alone with anybody who might ask questions.

If you are supporting somebody, a moment alone in a safe setting — a medical appointment, a toilet, a school office — may be the only chance they get to speak.

Forced labour means work a person has not freely chosen and cannot freely leave, held in place by threats, debt, document withholding, tied accommodation or fear.

Serious abuse or exploitation at work can be reported to the Fair Work Agency, which took over the work of the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority in April 2026, on 0800 432 0804, answered 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday with a voicemail outside those hours. It is not an emergency line.

Farm, glasshouse, packhouse and seasonal work can involve long hours, unlawful deductions for transport and accommodation, unsafe housing on site, and pay that never matches the hours worked.

Seasonal workers are particularly exposed, because their permission to work may be tied to one employer and they may be a long way from any advice service.

Warning signs include being paid through a third party, cash in hand with no payslips, being moved between sites, no safety equipment or training, and one person speaking for a whole group of workers.

Kitchens, hotels, nail bars, cleaning contracts and hand car washes are common settings. People may live above or behind the business, work every day, and hand their pay to the person who "arranged" the job.

As a customer you are not expected to investigate. If something worries you, note only what you safely saw and report it to the helpline or the police.

Concerns often involve very young-looking workers, workers who cannot answer simple questions about their hours or pay, someone else holding all the money, and workers who appear to live on the premises.

Do not question a worker in front of colleagues or a manager. It can be dangerous for them.

Domestic servitude means somebody working in a household — cleaning, cooking, childcare, caring for an older person — under control and without real freedom, sometimes within a family or extended family.

Signs may include sleeping in a kitchen, hallway or shed, never leaving the house alone, eating separately or last, no pay, no days off, and no contact with anybody outside the family.

Sexual exploitation includes being made or pressured to have sex with others for someone else's gain, in flats, hotels, private houses or online, often behind a story about love, debt or protection.

Support is available whether or not somebody wants to involve the police, and whether or not they were originally deceived.

Criminal exploitation means being made to commit offences for somebody else: cultivating cannabis, selling drugs, shoplifting, fraud, using bank accounts to move money, or carrying weapons.

A person forced into crime under control is being exploited, not simply offending willingly. Tell a solicitor about the exploitation at the earliest opportunity — it is directly relevant to how a case is handled.

"County lines" describes drug supply run from one area into another using couriers, very often children and young adults, who are controlled by debt, threats, a phone line and the risk of being robbed.

People, including children and disabled adults, may be transported to a location, made to beg or sell items all day, and have all the money taken from them.

Giving or not giving money is not the issue. Reporting the pattern — the same people dropped off and collected, always supervised — is what helps.

Forced marriage is a crime, and it can lead to domestic servitude, sexual exploitation and control of a person's money and movement. It can involve travel abroad or none at all.

Specialist help exists, and no adult has the right to decide who another adult marries.

Trafficking for the removal of organs is recognised in UK law. It is rare, and it is treated as a serious criminal matter.

If somebody has been approached with an offer of payment for an organ, or is being pressured towards a medical procedure they have not freely chosen, that should be reported to the police, and urgent medical concerns need 999 or an NHS urgent-care route.

A child cannot consent to their own exploitation. Where a child is involved, no proof of threats or deception is needed for it to be treated as exploitation.

Concerns can go to the police, children's social care at the local council or trust, a school safeguarding lead, a social worker or the NSPCC. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.

Children are groomed through friendship, attention, gifts, food, lifts, vapes, money, status, gaming and social media, then held by debt, shame or threats. Many will defend the person exploiting them, keep returning, and reject help several times.

Repeatedly going missing is a warning sign, not bad behaviour. Parents and carers should not confront a suspected exploiter — report it instead.

Anyone under 19 can call Childline free on 0800 1111, 24 hours a day, or use its official online one-to-one chat. You do not have to know what to call what is happening to you.

Common patterns: a job advertised on social media or a messaging app, no interview, vague employer details, an offer of accommodation and transport arranged for you, a fee to secure the work, and pressure to travel immediately.

Before travelling for work, tell somebody you trust the address, the employer's name and who is collecting you, and keep your own documents and money if it is safe to do so.

Exploitation often comes from inside a relationship or family: a partner who takes all the wages and controls the documents, a relative who arranged the job and keeps the pay, a friend who "lent" money that can never be repaid.

This can be both domestic abuse and modern slavery, and specialist domestic-abuse services can help alongside the modern slavery route.

Risk rises where work permission is tied to one employer, where accommodation comes with the job, where a recruitment fee was charged, and where the worker does not yet speak much English.

A worker in that position still has employment rights, and can get free information from Acas on 0300 123 1100, Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm, which offers translation in many languages.

Disabled adults and adults with care and support needs may be targeted for their benefits, their home or unpaid work, sometimes by somebody presenting as a friend or carer — a pattern often called "cuckooing" when a home is taken over.

This is a safeguarding matter. Contact adult social care at the local council or trust, and the police where a crime may have been committed. An advocate can help the person be heard.

• rarely being allowed to speak for themselves, or always being accompanied
• another person holding their documents, bank card or money
• living and working in the same place, in poor conditions
• excessive hours, no breaks, and little or no pay
• being transported between locations under someone's control
• fearful, rehearsed or inconsistent answers to ordinary questions
• injuries, or untreated medical problems
• not knowing their own address
• talk of a debt, of threats to family, or of immigration consequences
• a child carrying drugs, money or weapons for somebody else
• repeatedly going missing
• unexplained travel, accommodation, phones, gifts or money
• several workers living in overcrowded accommodation controlled by an employer

Windows covered or sealed, people arriving and leaving in the same vehicle at unusual hours, one person collecting everyone's wages, mattresses in commercial premises, very high electricity use, strong smells, and workers who never appear without a supervisor.

Note only what you can see safely from where you already are. Do not enter premises, take photographs of people, or make enquiries yourself.

No single sign proves trafficking or modern slavery. Poor English, a low wage, shared housing, nervousness, a job in a car wash or a nail bar, or being a migrant worker proves nothing at all on its own.

Report concerns rather than investigating them. Trained people can assess a pattern that a member of the public cannot see, and a wrong guess reported safely does no harm.

You are not in trouble for asking questions. You can contact the Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline on 08000 121 700 without deciding anything, and you can ask what would happen next before agreeing to anything.

If you are in immediate danger, call 999. If you are not, think about the safest device, the safest place and the safest time, and consider telling a professional you already see, such as a GP, nurse, midwife, teacher or advice worker.

Report your concern to the helpline, the police on 101, or 999 if there is immediate danger. You do not need to be sure, and you do not need to name an offence.

Do not confront anybody, do not offer to remove the person yourself, and do not promise to keep the information secret where a child or a person in immediate danger is involved. Be honest: "I may have to tell somebody who can help."

• choose a safe time and a safe device
• memorise one essential number only if that is safe and practical for you
• do not tell a controller that you are thinking of leaving
• do not gather documents or photographs if discovery would create danger
• use an appointment you already have as a chance to speak privately
• follow the instructions of the emergency services if you call them

Leaving can be the most dangerous moment, and specialist services plan for that. This page deliberately does not give covert techniques, because published methods can be read by controllers too.

If it is safe, note dates, hours worked, names, vehicle descriptions, addresses and amounts of money, and keep the note somewhere the other person cannot reach — with a friend, a GP, an adviser, or in a private account they do not know about.

Nothing here is worth your safety. Investigators can obtain phone, payroll and tenancy records themselves.

Crimestoppers takes information completely anonymously on 0800 555 111, at any time, day or night. It does not take your name and you will not be asked to give a statement.

Anonymous reporting has limits: nobody can come back to you for the extra detail that often makes action possible. Where you can, giving contact details to the helpline or the police usually helps more.

Use 999 in an emergency and 101 otherwise, or the online reporting service for the relevant force. Ask for an interpreter if you need one — that is normal and free.

You can ask what will happen to the information, whether you have to give a statement now, and what support is available whether or not you do.

The police may take initial details, consider immediate safety, and refer the person to specialist support. A concern about a child goes to children's social care as well.

There is no guaranteed outcome. A report does not mean an arrest, a prosecution, a conviction, housing, compensation or an immigration decision, and it can take a long time. Support does not depend on a conviction.

Anyone can register with a GP, and you do not need a passport, proof of address or immigration status to do so. Use 999 or A&E for an emergency, and NHS 111 (NHS 24 on 111 in Scotland) when it is urgent but not an emergency.

Tell a clinician if you are not safe. Hospitals and GP surgeries have safeguarding leads, and a medical appointment is often the safest place to say something out loud.

Specialist accommodation and support for adult potential victims exists in all four nations, but it is arranged through services rather than requested directly, and what is available varies by nation and by area.

The nation sections below explain who currently provides it. Where domestic abuse or sexual violence is also involved, refuge services may be an additional route.

Immigration advice may only be given by a solicitor or by an adviser regulated by the Immigration Advice Authority, which was called the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner until January 2025. Unregulated "advisers" who charge fees are a known source of further exploitation.

Entering the modern slavery process is not an immigration application, and nobody can promise that it will lead to permission to remain, or that immigration enforcement will never be involved. Keep the two questions separate and get proper advice on each.

Workers have rights regardless of nationality, and an employer's wrongdoing does not remove them. Acas gives free information on 0300 123 1100, Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm.

Underpayment of the minimum wage can be reported through the GOV.UK pay and work rights complaint route, which passes complaints to HMRC or the appropriate enforcement body. Serious exploitation at work goes to the Fair Work Agency on 0800 432 0804. Do not confront an employer who may be controlling or threatening you.

The National Referral Mechanism, usually shortened to NRM, is the UK framework for identifying people who may be victims of modern slavery and connecting them with appropriate support.

A person cannot normally refer themselves. Referrals are made by authorised organisations called "first responders", which include police forces, local authorities, the Home Office and certain named charities. You can still contact the helpline or the police yourself, and they can begin that process.

A first responder is an organisation authorised by the Home Office to make NRM referrals. The list is reviewed and does change, so ask an organisation whether it is currently a first responder rather than assuming.

An adult must normally give informed consent before being referred into the NRM. "Informed" means having it explained to you first: what information will be shared, with whom, what support may follow, and what it does not decide.

You are allowed to ask questions, to take time, and to say no. Ask for an interpreter or an advocate if that would help you understand.

A child does not give consent in the same way. Where somebody is, or may be, under 18, a referral is made because of safeguarding duties, and children's social care will be involved.

The arrangements for children are deliberately different from the adult consent rules, and a child should still have things explained to them in a way they can understand.

Support may include a place to stay, help with basic living costs, a support worker, help getting healthcare, and help getting legal advice, for a recovery period after a positive initial decision.

What is actually available depends on the nation, the provider and the person's circumstances, so ask the referring organisation what it can and cannot arrange.

After a referral, a Home Office team makes a first "reasonable grounds" decision, meaning there are grounds to believe the person may be a victim. Later, a "conclusive grounds" decision considers all the information gathered.

Neither is a criminal verdict and neither is an immigration decision. Decisions can take a long time, and the guidance changes — check the current Home Office guidance for the position that applies now.

An adult can decline. Reasons are often sensible: fear of authorities, fear for family, not wanting to move away, or wanting to keep working.

Declining does not remove all help. Healthcare, police protection, employment advice, legal advice, domestic-abuse services and charity support may still be available, though availability varies by area, and some specialist accommodation is tied to the NRM.

People sometimes receive a negative decision, or feel disbelieved because their memory of dates and places is fragmented — which is common after trauma.

Get legal advice quickly. A solicitor can explain whether a decision can be reconsidered or challenged, and what evidence may help. We cannot advise on an individual case.

Different problems need different specialists: crime, immigration, employment, family, housing. Say clearly at the start that exploitation or trafficking may be involved, because that affects which route applies and sometimes affects eligibility for legal aid.

There are several possible routes: an employment tribunal claim for unpaid wages, a criminal injuries compensation claim, a compensation order made in a criminal case, or a civil claim. Each has its own time limits.

Nobody can promise you money, and we cannot calculate what you may be owed. Get advice early, because time limits can be short.

Listen, believe, and do not demand a full account. Repeating the story to person after person is exhausting and can be harmful, and inconsistencies are not lies.

Practical help matters most: transport to an appointment, childcare, a phone charger, help reading a letter, sitting in a waiting room. Ask what they want, and keep asking rather than deciding for them.

Sleeplessness, flashbacks, numbness, jumpiness, shame, anger, and mistrust of officials are ordinary responses to what has happened, not weakness or dishonesty.

Samaritans is free on 116 123, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and you can text SHOUT to 85258 free at any time. A GP can refer for talking therapies.

Report a missing person to the police straight away — there is no waiting period. Missing People is free and confidential on 116 000: calls are answered from 10am to 5pm and texts from 10am to 10pm, seven days a week.

Employers can check who actually recruits, houses and pays their workers, whether several workers share one bank account or address, and whether anybody is speaking on behalf of a whole group.

Report concerns to the helpline, the Fair Work Agency or the police. Do not interview a worker in front of a supervisor, and do not dismiss somebody because you suspect they are being exploited — that removes their income and their route to help.

• Immediate danger: call 999. A child in immediate danger: call 999.
• No immediate danger: call 101, or the Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline on 08000 121 700.
• Want to stay anonymous: Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
• Use a device the other person cannot check, at a time that is safe.
• Do not confront anybody, and do not attempt a rescue.
• Ask for an interpreter — it is free and normal.
• Ask what information will be shared, and with whom, before you agree to anything.
• Get immigration advice only from a solicitor or an IAA-regulated adviser.
• Report unpaid wages and serious exploitation at work to the Fair Work Agency on 0800 432 0804.
• Register with a GP — no documents or address are needed.
• Ask about an advocate if you are not being heard.
• Keep any notes somewhere the other person cannot reach.