ABOUT THE BILL
Victims of modern slavery in England and Wales currently have no legal right to support.
The Government provides victims with a limited period of care on a non-statutory basis while the authorities decide if the person is a victim, but then the support ends.
Lord McColl of Dulwich has brought forward a Bill in the House of Lords to put this right. His Modern Slavery (Victim Support) Bill will give victims in England and Wales a guaranteed right to support during the initial period when the decision about the status is being made, and for a further minimum of 12 months afterwards.
WHY WE
NEED IT
Organisations that support victims have said that a minimum of 12 months of support and permission to be in the UK is the minimum length of time victims need to give them a stable foundation for recovery.
This Bill will protect victims from being vulnerable to re-trafficking, as well as allowing a direct pathway to recovery, ensuring quality of care, and making sure victims’ rights are guaranteed after Brexit.
SEBASTIAN
“The number one thing that should be provided for victims of trafficking is stable housing. I don’t think they should have to work for three months because you need time to adjust to your new circumstances, reintegrate into normal society, recover and learn how to trust people”
MAYA
"I spent years accepting that what my life had become couldn't and wouldn't ever change. It was impossible for me to speak out and nobody around me took any notice of the signs right in front of them."
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CONTACT YOUR MP
It is really important that MPs hear from their constituents about why we need the Modern Slavery (Victim Support) Bill. Please contact your MP today. Search your postcode to generate a ready-made email to send to your MP.
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I am writing as your constituent because I am deeply concerned about the suffering and distress experienced by victims of modern slavery after they have been confirmed as victims by the National Referral Mechanism because they are not granted discretionary leave to remain. Very few victims receive leave under the current discretionary leave process. Without leave to remain non-British victims are not eligible for public services and are left either homeless and destitute, or stuck in safe house accommodation stretching the capacity of those services and unable to regain their independence, rebuild their lives or continue their recovery. Nor do they have the stability and certainty they need to get involved in police investigations or court proceedings against their traffickers.
The changes to the immigration rules for EEA nationals which began on 1 January now mean that many more confirmed victims than previously, need leave to remain in order to access services or remain in the UK to continue their recovery and support criminal proceedings against their traffickers.
On 4 January 2021 the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner called on the Government to make the issue of leave to remain for victims of modern slavery a priority for action in 2021.
The Commissioner said:
“I continue to be concerned to hear the anguish and trauma caused to survivors of modern slavery who even after they have had a positive trafficking decision from the Home Office are waiting for decisions about whether they will be able to remain in the UK. I have been working with officials to try to understand why decisions take so long but this approach is slow and meanwhile survivors are suffering.
"The latest guidance says that discretionary leave is automatically considered for all non-EEA survivors. But the overall number of survivors granted discretionary leave remains very low. In 2015, 123 survivors with positive conclusive grounds were granted discretionary leave, in 2019 it was 70 and in the first three months of this year it was only 8. From 1 January some EEA nationals will be similarly unsure about their future.
"There is a powerful moral argument for granting leave for those whom the state has concluded are victims of trafficking or slavery but there is also a practical one. Without such leave survivors, who are not claiming asylum or who have not been granted EU settled status, are not entitled to accommodation and have limited access to benefits – they will either be unable to leave safe houses or left destitute on the streets. Surely 2021 is the year to resolve this?” *
I share the Commissioner’s view that this is a matter of urgency.
Although the power to provide support is devolved in Scotland and we have our own legislation and schemes for doing this, immigration is a reserved matter. Unless the Home Secretary extends leave to remain to all victims, some will remain unable to access any specialist help made available by the Scottish Government as well as other welfare benefits.
Fortunately, there is a simple and fast solution. Lord McColl of Dulwich and the Rt Hon Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP have introduced the Modern Slavery (Victim Support) Bill which will provide a minimum of one year’s leave to remain to all confirmed victims of modern slavery, together with appropriate support and assistance to enable them to continue their recovery, preventing them becoming homeless and vulnerable to re-trafficking, and giving them the opportunity to support criminal proceedings from a place of safety and stability. An earlier version of the Bill passed the House of Lords unamended and during debates on the Immigration and Social Security Coordination Act in the autumn many parliamentarians expressed their support for the Bill. As well as cross-party parliamentary support the Bill is supported by a wide range of charities and businesses in the Free for Good campaign. **
With Government support the Bill could quickly be passed into law, resolving this issue this year, as the Anti-Slavery Commissioner suggests.
Please would you write to the Home Secretary to draw her attention to the Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s remarks and ask her to give time and her support to the Modern Slavery (Victim Support) Bill as a way to meet the Commissioner’s recommendation.
** You can find out more about the Free for Good campaign at
I am writing as your constituent because I am deeply concerned about the suffering and distress experienced by victims of modern slavery after they have been confirmed as victims by the National Referral Mechanism because they are not granted discretionary leave to remain. Very few victims receive leave under the current discretionary leave process. Without leave to remain non-British victims are not eligible for public services and are left either homeless and destitute, or stuck in safe house accommodation stretching the capacity of those services and unable to regain their independence, rebuild their lives or continue their recovery. Nor do they have the stability and certainty they need to get involved in police investigations or court proceedings against their traffickers.
The changes to the immigration rules for EEA nationals which began on 1 January now mean that many more confirmed victims than previously, need leave to remain in order to access services or remain in the UK to continue their recovery and support criminal proceedings against their traffickers.
On 4 January 2021 the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner called on the Government to make the issue of leave to remain for victims of modern slavery a priority for action in 2021.
The Commissioner said:
“I continue to be concerned to hear the anguish and trauma caused to survivors of modern slavery who even after they have had a positive trafficking decision from the Home Office are waiting for decisions about whether they will be able to remain in the UK. I have been working with officials to try to understand why decisions take so long but this approach is slow and meanwhile survivors are suffering.
"The latest guidance says that discretionary leave is automatically considered for all non-EEA survivors. But the overall number of survivors granted discretionary leave remains very low. In 2015, 123 survivors with positive conclusive grounds were granted discretionary leave, in 2019 it was 70 and in the first three months of this year it was only 8. From 1 January some EEA nationals will be similarly unsure about their future.
"There is a powerful moral argument for granting leave for those whom the state has concluded are victims of trafficking or slavery but there is also a practical one. Without such leave survivors, who are not claiming asylum or who have not been granted EU settled status, are not entitled to accommodation and have limited access to benefits – they will either be unable to leave safe houses or left destitute on the streets. Surely 2021 is the year to resolve this?” *
I share the Commissioner’s view that this is a matter of urgency. Fortunately, there is a simple and fast solution. Lord McColl of Dulwich and the Rt Hon Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP have introduced the Modern Slavery (Victim Support) Bill which will provide a minimum of one year’s leave to remain to all confirmed victims of modern slavery, together with appropriate support and assistance to enable them to continue their recovery, preventing them becoming homeless and vulnerable to re-trafficking, and giving them the opportunity to support criminal proceedings from a place of safety and stability. An earlier version of the Bill passed the House of Lords unamended and during debates on the Immigration and Social Security Coordination Act in the autumn many parliamentarians expressed their support for the Bill. As well as cross-party parliamentary support the Bill is supported by a wide range of charities and businesses in the Free for Good campaign. **
With Government support the Bill could quickly be passed into law, resolving this issue this year, as the Anti-Slavery Commissioner suggests.
Please would you write to the Home Secretary to draw her attention to the Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s remarks and ask her to give time and her support to the Modern Slavery (Victim Support) Bill as a way to meet the Commissioner’s recommendation.
** You can find out more about the Free for Good campaign at
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MP
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I am writing as your constituent because I am deeply concerned about the suffering and distress experienced by victims of modern slavery after they have been confirmed as victims by the National Referral Mechanism because they are not granted discretionary leave to remain. Very few victims receive leave under the current discretionary leave process. Without leave to remain non-British victims are not eligible for public services and are left either homeless and destitute, or stuck in safe house accommodation stretching the capacity of those services and unable to regain their independence, rebuild their lives or continue their recovery. Nor do they have the stability and certainty they need to get involved in police investigations or court proceedings against their traffickers.
The changes to the immigration rules for EEA nationals which began on 1 January now mean that many more confirmed victims than previously, need leave to remain in order to access services or remain in the UK to continue their recovery and support criminal proceedings against their traffickers.
On 4 January 2021 the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner called on the Government to make the issue of leave to remain for victims of modern slavery a priority for action in 2021.
The Commissioner said:
“I continue to be concerned to hear the anguish and trauma caused to survivors of modern slavery who even after they have had a positive trafficking decision from the Home Office are waiting for decisions about whether they will be able to remain in the UK. I have been working with officials to try to understand why decisions take so long but this approach is slow and meanwhile survivors are suffering.
"The latest guidance says that discretionary leave is automatically considered for all non-EEA survivors. But the overall number of survivors granted discretionary leave remains very low. In 2015, 123 survivors with positive conclusive grounds were granted discretionary leave, in 2019 it was 70 and in the first three months of this year it was only 8. From 1 January some EEA nationals will be similarly unsure about their future.
"There is a powerful moral argument for granting leave for those whom the state has concluded are victims of trafficking or slavery but there is also a practical one. Without such leave survivors, who are not claiming asylum or who have not been granted EU settled status, are not entitled to accommodation and have limited access to benefits – they will either be unable to leave safe houses or left destitute on the streets. Surely 2021 is the year to resolve this?” *
I share the Commissioner’s view that this is a matter of urgency.
Fortunately, there is a simple and fast solution. Lord McColl of Dulwich and the Rt Hon Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP have introduced the Modern Slavery (Victim Support) Bill which will provide a minimum of one year’s leave to remain to all confirmed victims of modern slavery, together with appropriate support and assistance to enable them to continue their recovery, preventing them becoming homeless and vulnerable to re-trafficking, and giving them the opportunity to support criminal proceedings from a place of safety and stability. An earlier version of the Bill passed the House of Lords unamended and during debates on the Immigration and Social Security Coordination Act in the autumn many parliamentarians expressed their support for the Bill. As well as cross-party parliamentary support the Bill is supported by a wide range of charities and businesses in the Free for Good campaign. **
With Government support the Bill could quickly be passed into law, resolving this issue this year, as the Anti-Slavery Commissioner suggests.
Please would you write to the Home Secretary to draw her attention to the Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s remarks and ask her to give time and her support to the Modern Slavery (Victim Support) Bill as a way to meet the Commissioner’s recommendation.
** You can find out more about the Free for Good campaign at