Modern slavery victims being left ‘without a safe home’ due to lack of government support

Modern slavery victims are being left “without a home” due to inadequate government support, a new report from homelessness charity Crisis says.

Published on Monday, the “No way out and no way home” report analyses data from March 2020 to March 2021 from 14 different organisations operating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The organisation said it had identified at least 331 cases of people believed to be survivors of modern slavery who were struggling with homelessness.

In its review of the data, Crisis found that less than half of homeless people believed to be survivors of modern slavery had been able to access the government’s support system via the National Referral Mechanism (NRM).

Meanwhile, as many as 45 per cent of survivors had explicitly refused to be referred, leaving them without access to accommodation, legal advice and other supports, the report says.

It is unclear whether the coronavirus pandemic might have had an impact on these figures. However, many survivors of modern slavery – people forced into situations they cannot leave by others who exploit them for profit – have been left “at risk of being forced back into slavery, all whilst dealing with the trauma of their experiences”, Crisis warned.

In a statement, Jon Sparkes, the chief executive of Crisis, said that proper support for survivors of modern slavery could help address the major gap in uptake of support services.

He urged the government to help move forward the Modern Slavery Bill, which would ensure that survivors are entitled to at least a year of tailored support, including a safe place to live.

“Modern slavery exploits our common need to work to sustain ourselves and build our lives,” Mr Sparkes said, with the most common types of exploitation identified in Crisis’s research being sexual exploitation (43 per cent of cases), followed by labour exploitation (25 per cent), and forced criminality, including theft (18 per cent).

“Everyday through our frontline services at Crisis, we hear of people experiencing homelessness who have faced exploitation – forced to take part in sex work, work as a live-in servant or take part in crippling manual labour, working all hours of the day for little to no money, scared and feeling there is no way out,” he said. “The impact this abuse has on a person is simply unimaginable.

“Until now, the links between homelessness and modern slavery have been mostly anecdotal with very little research completed in this area,” he asserted. “This report provides us with the clear evidence to show how the two drive one another, and more importantly, what we need to do to prevent both and end the cycle of people trapped in the most dreadful of circumstances.

“We urgently need to see the Westminster government passing the Modern Slavery Bill as soon as possible, ensuring survivors are entitled to at least 12 months of tailored support, including a safe long-term home, following a positive decision,” he said.

However, he also said the Home Office must “address the clear issues with the [NRM], including further research into the specific reasons victims don’t want to be referred and also offering other means of support for people who don’t want to engage with the system.”

The Independent has contacted the Home Office for comment.