OFFICIAL National Referral Mechanism Statistics – End of Year Summary 2018 Date published: 20/03/2019 Reference: EOY18-MSHT Version number: 1.0 Authoring department/team: Vulnerabilities Command / MSHTU Key Points • 6,993 potential victims were submitted to the National Referral Mechanism in 2018; a 36% increase on the 2017 total of 5,142 referrals. • Reporting showed potential victims of trafficking from 130 different nationalities in 2018. • UK, Albanian and Vietnamese nationals remain the most commonly reported potential victims, with the United Kingdom increasing by nearly 100% to 1,625 referrals over the 2017 total of 820 referrals. • The most common exploitation type recorded for potential victims exploited as adults and minors was labour exploitation, a category which also includes criminal exploitation. • Of the 6,993 potential victims referred to the NRM in 2018, 52 were referred to Police Service of Northern Ireland for crime recording purposes, 228 were referred to Police Scotland and 251 to Welsh forces. The remaining 6,462 were referred to English police forces. • Referrals for minor exploitation categories increased 48% to 3,137 in 2018, compared to 2,118 in 2017. This increase is due, in the majority, to a continued increase in the recorded NRM referrals related to the county lines criminal business model of exploiting vulnerable individuals and other forms of criminal labour exploitation. • In 2018, 1,986 (28%) of referrals reported that the location of exploitation was overseas only. Published 20/03/2019 EOY18-MSHT v1.0 1 OFFICIAL Contents Key Points ............................................................................................................................ 1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 3 NRM Statistics 2018 ................................................................................................................ 5 All Referrals – By Nationality .................................................................................................... 7 Adult Referrals – By Nationality ................................................................................................ 10 Minor Referrals – By Nationality ............................................................................................... 12 Referring Agency Totals ..................................................................................................... 14 Annex A - ENGLAND - 2018 ................................................................................................ 16 Nationality of PV Referred 2018 - England - All Referrals ............................................................. 17 Referring Agency Totals 2018 - England - All Referrals ................................................................ 19 Annex B - NORTHERN IRELAND - 2018 ............................................................................... 21 Nationality of PV Referred 2018 – Northern Ireland - All Referrals ................................................ 21 Referring Agency Totals 2018 – Northern Ireland - All Referrals ................................................... 22 Annex C - SCOTLAND - 2018 ............................................................................................... 23 Nationality of PV Referred 2018 – Scotland - All Referrals............................................................ 23 Referring Agency Totals 2018 – Scotland - All Referrals .............................................................. 24 Annex D - WALES - 2018 .................................................................................................... 25 Nationality of PV Referred 2018 – Wales - All Referrals ............................................................... 25 Referring Agency Totals 2018 – Wales - All Referrals .................................................................. 26 Annex E - Referring Agencies ............................................................................................. 27 Government Agencies ............................................................................................................. 28 Local Authorities .................................................................................................................... 38 NGO/Third Sector ................................................................................................................... 42 Police.................................................................................................................................... 51 Annex F – Police Force Areas for Crime Recording Purposes .............................................. 76 A - G .................................................................................................................................... 76 H – N .................................................................................................................................... 77 P – W ................................................................................................................................... 78 Annex G – Case Decision Status by Nationality and Exploitation Type at 18th January 201979 Handling Instructions ........................................................................................................ 79 Published 20/03/2019 EOY18-MSHT v1.0 2 OFFICIAL Introduction This report presents a summary of the number of potential victims of modern slavery and human trafficking referred in to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) in 2018 and is the final annual report in this format, prior to the transfer of the NRM to the new Home Office Single Competent Authority in April 2019 as part of a wide-reaching NRM Reform Programme. Unless stated otherwise, the source used is from NRM data extracted on 18/01/2019. Some of the cases remain open with the Competent Authorities and decisions on their modern slavery status are yet to be made. The NRM is a ‘living’ process and data should be considered provisional until all cases are concluded. Some values may differ from previous, or future reports as supplementary information is revealed throughout the duration of a case and their records are adjusted accordingly. Unless otherwise specified, percentages are rounded. A supporting Microsoft Excel file, Tables_for_NRM Summary_2018_INTERNET, is available in Excel 97-2003 format to enable users to more readily interact with the NRM data without the requirement for the latest software. Downloads are available from the NCA’s website at: www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/national-referral-mechanism-statistics This is not an assessed intelligence report and does not, therefore, provide any analysis of the picture of modern slavery in the UK. The report’s purpose is to provide figures relating to the number of potential victims that have been referred in to the NRM process during 2018, with no decision data for the individual cases. Due to the changes introduced to NRM recording methodology in line with Home Office Counting Rules for crime recording purposes, there is no direct comparison possible to previous years when examining referral totals for England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The 2017 totals are provided for information purposes only. Overview Under the existing NRM process potential victims of modern slavery are referred by ‘First Responders’ to one of two ‘competent authorities’ who consider whether an individual is a victim of modern slavery.1 First Responders include a number of public bodies and specified non-government organisations (NGOs). The two ‘competent authorities’ that make decisions about whether referred individuals are victims of modern slavery are the NCA’s Modern Slavery Human Trafficking Unit that handles EEA national cases, and UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), that handles non-EEA national cases or individuals in immigration detention. Initially the competent authorities make a ‘reasonable grounds’ decision, which assesses whether the competent authority ‘believes but cannot prove’ that the person is a victim of modern slavery. If an adult individual receives a positive reasonable grounds decision they 1 The NRM process and specialist support was initially established to deal solely with victims of human trafficking. In July 2015, the Government contract for adult victim care in England and Wales was extended to cover victims of all forms of modern slavery, in line with the recommendations of a review of the NRM system. Throughout this report, the term ‘modern slavery’ is used. The Northern Ireland Department of Justice has extended the scope of support in Northern Ireland to cover all potential victims of modern slavery. Published 20/03/2019 Return to Table of Contents EOY18-MSHT v1.0 3 OFFICIAL become entitled to government-funded support.2 Local authorities have responsibilities to support child victims of modern slavery under existing statutory child protection arrangements. The competent authority then collects further evidence about the case in order to make a ‘conclusive grounds’ decision, which assesses whether ‘it is more likely than not’ that the person is a victim of modern slavery. The time taken to reach a conclusive decision may be affected by the availability of supporting evidence. Not all of the individuals who are referred to the NRM will ultimately be assessed to be modern slavery victims. In October 2017, the Government announced reforms to the NRM, to improve identification