Encouraging news announced today (17 February) that the Government will be making changes to the Modern Slavery Bill to improve protection for victims.

Among the amendments are strengthened powers and authority for child trafficking advocates who will provide specialist support for child victims, a role for the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner in reviewing support and assistance provided to victims and greater protection of the Commissioner’s independence.

We warmly welcome these amendments in areas that CARE has been calling on the Government to improve since the Bill was first introduced. These changes will make the Bill much more effective in protecting and supporting victims.

However, we are disappointed that the Government has not taken this opportunity to include support services for victims in the Bill. Although this new set of changes includes a power to make regulations about victim support, this still falls far short of the duty to provide assistance to victims included in law in Northern Ireland and the Bill proposed by the Scottish Government.

Announcing the proposals the Minister for Modern Slavery and Organised Crime Karen Bradley MP said:

“Strengthening support for victims of modern slavery and targeting the perpetrators form the two central planks of our work to eradicate this vile trade.”

We will continue to call on the Government to make a stronger commitment to supporting victims by including a guarantee of support services in the Bill. There is still time to sign our petition on this issue here.

The amendments will be debated by the House of Lords during Report Stage of the Bill which begins on Monday 23 February.