CARE welcomes the statement made today by the Home Secretary Amber Rudd MP, that the Government will take action to improve the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) through which victims of human trafficking are able to receive support.

In her statement Ms Rudd recognises that there is room for “radical changes” to the system and says that “we must be better at getting immediate support to victims when they are at their most vulnerable”. She also pledges to “streamline” the process that assesses a person’s story and decides if they will be recognised as a victim, and also says the Government wants to “make sure that victims are able to rebuild their lives.”

Her comments come following publication of statistics showing an increased number of possible victims being referred into the NRM in 2016 which is a means that more people are getting the chance to receive help to recover from the trauma of exploitation. However, even the increased figure of over 3000 referrals in 2016 is much lower than the Home Office’s 2014 estimate of 10,000 -13,000 possible victims, so many more victims are still going unnoticed, stuck in their exploitation or without access to support.

CARE has been calling on the Government to improve the level of support available for a victims once the NRM process is complete and we welcome the Home Secretary’s recognition that although the Government has a clear aspiration to help people aspiration is at present, the provision of support may yet not be as good as it needs to. We look forward to the proposals that will come later in the year and will work with MPs and Government to ensure they provide victims with the best possible start to their long term recovery.

You can read the Home Secretary’s statement in full here.