Yesterday in the House of Lords, a Bill was introduced which aims to improve the support available for adult victims of modern day slavery.

The Modern Slavery (Victim Support) Bill, brought forward by Lord McColl of Dulwich, a long-time campaigner on human trafficking, amends the Modern Slavery Act to introduce two specific duties on the Government to provide adult victims with support.

The first duty requires the Government to provide support and assistance during a reflection and recovery period of forty five days (minimum) to people who are thought to be victims and who are referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) for their case to be considered. The Government already provides support of this kind, but in England and Wales there is no guarantee in law for this support, unlike in Scotland and Northern Ireland. By putting this reflection and recovery period into law victims and those who care for them will have greater confidence not just that they are entitled to support but also about the kinds of assistance that should be available. CARE worked hard to persuade the Government to include this guarantee of support in the Modern Slavery Act so that England and Wales would not fall behind Scotland and Northern Ireland, and we supported amendments from Lord McColl to do so at the time.

The second element of the Bill relates to the failings of the current system to protect victims from re-trafficking, homelessness and destitution after the NRM process is completed and when they are given victim status. This issue has been raised by several studies over the past two years, most recently by the House of Commons’ Work and Pensions Committee report published in April. The Bill will create a new duty on the Government to provide support to all victims who receive a decision from the NRM that there is enough evidence to say that they have been a victim of trafficking (called a “positive conclusive grounds” decision).

At the moment, when victims receive that decision the reflection and recovery period comes to an end, they only have two weeks to leave the safe house where they are staying and have no particular rights to benefits or housing. For some victims, they may be able to apply for benefits if they are EU citizens, or for others if they are helping police with their investigations the Police can apply for them to have special permission to stay in the UK and access benefits, but this is not available for all victims. The main problem many victims face is that navigating these different options is extremely confusing, they often do not have the evidence to prove they are entitled to help, and some simply do not qualify. Often victims are still dealing with trauma and anxiety and cannot easily negotiate a maze of different services in the UK. They also need time and help to build up skills and resilience so they can resist the dangers of re-trafficking when they return to their home country.

This Bill will rectify the current gap in support by giving all confirmed victims the right to stay in the UK and receive support and assistance for 12 months after they receive a positive conclusive grounds decision, something recommended by the Work and Pensions Committee. It also ensures that victims will have a long term care plan and support worker to help them on a path to recovery.

CARE is pleased to be working closely with Lord McColl in support of his Bill and urges the Government to respond positively by accepting and acting on its proposals. We look forward to the Bill being debated in the House of Lords at its Second Reading in the coming months, most likely in the autumn.