70% of CG decisions made by the SCA in Q3 2025 were positive compared to 44% by the IECA. www.gov.uk/government/s...

Sheriff sentencing three cannabis gardeners at Hamilton Sheriff Court, "There was no coercion in this case but there was, undoubtedly, an element of compulsion at the hands of people who had power over you"

Meanwhile in London www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

How does a person enter the NRM in the first place? www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...

A trillion dollar technology

From the latest inspection report on HMP Bullingdon, "It was positive to see that prisoners who had been identified as victims of modern slavery were monitored at the weekly safety intervention meeting." cloud-platform-e218f50a4812967ba1215eaecede923f.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/site...

43 month sentence for man who pleaded guilty to holding a person in slavery or servitude, being concerned in the production of cannabis, and fraud by false representation. An example of what can happen when victims of crime are protected not criminalised. rugbyobserver.co.uk/news/violent...

The Home Office didn't publish a news story around Anti-Slavery Day on the 18th October. There was a press release on the 19th headlined "Record single flight of illegal migrants returned under new deal" www.gov.uk/government/n...

2024 ILO report on Acting against forced labour: An assessment of investment requirements and economic benefits Costs a full global intervention package at $212 billion (over 5 year period) www.ilo.org/sites/defaul...

Some evidence of the infamous "delivering at pace". I've definitely noticed decision making speeding up over recent months and have not noticed a decline in quality.

3 men convicted for cannabis production in February, "while the operation did not amount to "modern slavery", a guard was placed outside the premises while the trio worked" General Indicators of modern slavery: "Show signs that their movements are being controlled" "Feel that they cannot leave"

Latest post from us: Briefing: is the modern slavery identification system in the UK being misused? | Sonia Lenegan

The review of the name 'Single Competent Authority' has nearly taken 4 years.

Update to MSA stat guidance prevents requests of reconsideration requests "where the SSHD intends to remove that individual to a country that is a signatory to the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings (ECAT) and European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)"

Three-quarters of negative Conclusive Grounds decisions in the first half of 2025 were due to insufficient information. Only 7% were refused on credibility grounds. Refusals due to insufficient information increased 3000% between 2022 and 2024. Whereas refusals on credibility grounds fell 300%.

From last week "Two men were caught helping to operate a “slavery” cannabis plant worth over half a million pounds in Carmarthenshire." "When officers asked . . . whether what had happened to him was slavery he responded: “Maybe slavery, maybe work." 24 month custodial sentence.

There were a record high 5,690 NRM referrals between April-June 2025. The 1,772 reports in the quarter under the Duty to Notify of adults who did not consent to enter the NRM was the second highest. 11,645 people are waiting for a Conclusive Grounds decision. www.gov.uk/government/s...

The call for evidence on the identification of victims of modern slavery has been published assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/687771...

Updates to section on Prioritisation of Conclusive Grounds cases in the MSA statutory guidance. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/687656...

16 yr old & two 17 yr old boys from London arrested in Hertfordshire on suspicion of possession with intent to supply class A and B drugs. The DI said, "The violence and exploitation often associated with drug dealing causes untold harm to our communities and can take advantage of vulnerable people"

Some of the longest custodial sentences for modern slavery. www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/six...

Smuggling???

"Individuals travelling to the UK illegally are sold a lie by smuggling gangs that they will be able to live and work freely in the UK, when in reality they often end up facing squalid living conditions, minimal pay and inhumane working hours." www.gov.uk/government/n... Smuggling or trafficking?

"This issue is getting worse due to climate change, which is making heatwaves both more frequent and more intense. And they will become more common and severe for at least the next 25 years until the world reaches net zero emissions of greenhouse gases."🙃 www.standard.co.uk/comment/lond...

Judge at Norwich Crown Court this week sentencing two cannabis gardeners to six months said it was a "sad and familiar story of young men becoming ensnared by sophisticated criminal gangs" who are "forced" to pay off their debt illegally.

NEW RESEARCH! Identifying child criminal exploitation in Northern Ireland. Children in Northern Ireland exploited in criminal activities are not being formally identified as victims of modern slavery and human trafficking – despite indications they may meet the criteria. 🧵

It's like a day 1 case study on the Palermo Protocol in a training exercise on understanding the differences between terms like "human trafficking" and "smuggling"

"Officers acted on intelligence that suggested the lead people smuggler was exploiting the individuals he lured here under false pretences, forcing them to do unpaid work." www.gov.uk/government/n... That sentence describes trafficking? ACT (movement) + MEANS (deception) + PURPOSE (forced labour)

A Recorder at Crown Court sentencing a Vietnamese man to 6 months for cannabis production "you . . arrived in this country almost certainly illegally but alone and vulnerable. I have no doubt you were living rough, with no stable address and eventually you were exploited by those promising you work"

#CallForPapers: This issue will document existing & emerging aspects of domestic/care work & intimate #labour, their intersections with #gender & #migration, and the policies and practices that enable or prevent the exploitation of care workers. See antitraffickingreview.org/index.php/at...

Only 10% of the public expected a fall in net migration. www.britishfuture.org/surprise-hal...

Judge Hiddleston said Ebid had “significant managerial role within an organised crime group” and his “primary motivation was to make money out of human trafficking” CPS press release says he pled guilty for conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration to a member state. www.cps.gov.uk/cps/news/peo...

Organisations have written about the successes and shortcomings in the 10 yrs since the Modern Slavery Act and what the UK government should do in the future but missed self-reflection about their own successes and shortcomings in the events of that decade. I would buy a ticket for a BTS party.

Press release mentions "safeguarding victims" and exploitation by OCGs in the drug trade. The Judge said the two men, "were probably paying off illegal traffickers who brought you into the UK" which "reinforces my impression there was a degree of exploitation." www.sussex.police.uk/news/sussex/...

Serco looking for key partners for a bid for Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (closed 31 March) www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/f61d7...

HMICFRS report titled 'Improving the response to organised immigration crime' notes that "Organised immigration crime isn’t the same as modern slavery and human trafficking" Recommendation 8 is about the Modern Slavery & Organised Immigration Crime unit. s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets-hmicf...

In Q1 2025 the IECA accepted 143 requests for reconsideration decision. 101 (70%) were accepted due to submission of additional evidence, 36 (25%) were accepted because of concerns the original decision was not make in line with statutory guidance www.gov.uk/government/s...

Immigration white paper says ending overseas recruitment for social care is to tackle exploitation & abuse of care workers. The seasonal worker visa was extended in October. Migrant workers on that visa who are exploited and abused aren't counted in net migration stats www.gov.uk/government/n...

The UK government's immigration white paper has now been published: www.gov.uk/government/p...

Exploitation is tempting? "Undocumented labour offers a tempting way to cut costs. One worker arrested during the surprise enforcement visit at Royal China told officers he was doing 66 hours a week for just £6-an-hour." www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...

I've not heard much discussion about the number of negative conclusive grounds contributing to the reduction in the backlog of NRM decisions.

Q1 2025 saw the highest number of UK nationals referred to the NRM in a quarter since records began. www.gov.uk/government/s...

Our new issue is out today! It explores the roles, needs, and experiences of people in the immediate environment of #migrants and victims of #humantrafficking - their parents, children, siblings, and community 👉🏽 antitraffickingreview.org/index.php/at... As always, all articles are #OpenAccess

Interesting difference in the reporting of this case in The Warrington Guardian www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/2511374... which mentions 'human trafficking' and The Daily Mail which does not www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/2511374...

16.04.25 an Albanian man found inside a cannabis factory given 16 months for cannabis production. The man described himself as a slave. The Sheriff said “There are serious charges, and I take account of everything that’s been said on your behalf and that you have no previous convictions”

Yesterday, two men were sentenced to 17 months and 18 months at Norwich Crown Court for cannabis production. The Recorder said he accepted both men had played a lesser role in the operation “primarily due to exploitation”.