In his first strategic plan published just ahead of Anti-Slavery Day, the UK’s first Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner has made clear his commitment to a “victim and human rights-centred ethos.”

The Commissioner, Kevin Hyland OBE, has set improved identification and support for victims as his first priority in his plan for the next three years. As the Commissioner says in his strategic plan “unless appropriate support is provided to victims, together with a parallel investigation into the crime, vulnerable people will not receive justice, offences will go unpunished and offenders will continue to view modern slavery as a low risk and high profit crime.”

Speaking on BBC Radio 4 this morning the Commissioner described the treatment some victims have received as “morally unacceptable” and highlighted training for police officers and other public sector workers as key to improving the response to victims’ needs.

The Commissioner’s full set of priorities in the strategic plan are:

• improved identification of victims and enhanced levels of immediate and sustained support
• driving improved law enforcement and criminal justice response
• to identify, promote and facilitate best practice in partnership working across the UK
• engaging with the private sector to promote policies to ensure that supply chains are free from slavery and to encourage effectual transparency reporting
• to encourage effective and targeted international collaboration to combat modern slavery

The Commissioner’s role was created in the Modern Slavery Act passed earlier this year and he has responsibility “to encourage good practice in the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of slavery and human trafficking offences and in the identification of the victims of those offences.” The Modern Slavery Act was amended in the House of Lords to give the Commissioner authority to consider the needs of victims following pressure from MPs, Peers and various charities including CARE.