Correspondence

Circular 025/2015: duty to notify the Home Office of suspected victims of modern slavery

Published 2 November 2015

This circular covers the introduction of section 52, the duty to notify the Secretary of State about suspected victims of slavery or human trafficking (‘the duty to notify’), of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (‘the 2015 act’).

1. Background

The 2015 act received Royal Assent on 26 March. The 2015 act will ensure that the National Crime Agency, the police and other law enforcement agencies have the powers they need to pursue, disrupt and bring to justice those engaged in human trafficking and slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour. The 2015 act also introduces measures to enhance the protection of victims of slavery and trafficking. The act generally extends to England and Wales only, although some sections apply to Scotland and Northern Ireland. The duty to notify only applies in England and Wales; similar measures have been introduced through separate legislation in Northern Ireland and Scotland for cases encountered there.

The 2015 act itself provides for a small number of its provisions to come into force either on the day of Royal Assent or 2 months afterwards (that is, on 26 May). The Minister for Preventing Abuse and Exploitation made the first commencement regulations (the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2015) bringing other provisions of the act into force on 31 July. Further provisions were brought into force on 15 October 2015 and section 52, the duty to notify the Secretary of State about suspected victims of slavery or human trafficking, comes into force on 1 November 2015. This circular provides details of section 52. It will be supported by more detailed guidance included in the interim statutory guidance on identifying and supporting victims of modern slavery.

2. Section 52

It is estimated that there were 10 to 13,000 victims of modern slavery in the UK in 2013, with only 1,746 potential victims referred to the national referral mechanism (NRM) (the system through which victims are identified and supported) in the same period. Given the hidden nature of modern slavery, it is likely that only a small proportion of those who were victims of modern slavery in 2013 were encountered by public authorities and, of those, a smaller proportion were referred to the NRM. Reporting cases to the NRM not only provides victims of modern slavery with access to a range of support, it assists in developing our understanding of modern slavery, which can be used to improve our operational response and support for victims.

The government, along with local partners and non-government organisations (NGOs), is working to raise awareness of modern slavery. Section 52 of the act will further improve identification of victims by creating a statutory duty for specified public authorities to notify the Secretary of State where they have reasonable grounds to believe that a person may be a victim of slavery or human trafficking. This will help raise awareness of modern slavery and build a more comprehensive picture of the nature and scale of modern slavery, to inform the law enforcement response.

Section 52 requires that where a specified public authority to which the section applies has reasonable grounds to believe that a person may be a victim of slavery or human trafficking, it must notify the Home Office. The organisation to whom the notification should be made can be amended in future via regulations by the Secretary of State.

The Home Office has laid regulations setting out the information that should be included in a notification. Where a notification is for a non-consenting adult the information to be provided is limited to ensure the individual cannot be identified, either through only using the information provided or in combination with other information.

A public authority which includes information in a notification in accordance with the regulations does not breach any obligation of confidence owed by the public authority in relation to that information. A public authority must not include information in a notification which contravenes any other restriction on the disclosure of information (however imposed).

Further guidance and relevant forms on how to notify the Home Office of a case of suspected modern slavery are available.

3. Who the duty applies to

The public authorities to whom the duty applies are set out in section 52(5) which are currently:

• a chief officer of police for a police area
• the chief constable of the British Transport Police Force
• the National Crime Agency
• a county council
• a county borough council
• a district council
• a London borough council
• the Greater London Authority
• the Common Council of the City of London
• the Council of the Isles of Scilly
• the Gangmasters Licensing Authority

The Secretary of State may by regulations add, remove or amend a public authority that is specified under the duty; this power has not yet been exercised.

Other public authorities and NGOs are also able to make a voluntary notification despite not being bound by the duty, in order to help build the picture of modern slavery in the UK.

For more information contact: Justine Currell, Modern Slavery Unit, Home Office, Justine.currell@homeoffice.gov.uk, 020 7035 8205