Modern Day Slavery: New Guidance For Homelessness Services

Human trafficking is the fastest growing international crime and there is a clear link between trafficking, forced labour and homelessness. It is vital that homelessness agencies work together with partner agencies to ensure that vulnerable people are not put at increased risk while accessing their services, says Homeless Link.

Traffickers are increasingly viewing services that attract and support vulnerable individuals, such as the homeless, as prime locations to target people for exploitation. Modern slavery is a growing international crime that leaves no country unaffected. Figures from 2015 show a 40% rise in potential victims of slavery referred for support, compared with 2014.

In the UK there are clear links between trafficking, forced labour and homelessness and evidence suggests that the majority of trafficking victims have slept rough at some point. Traffickers often work in gangs to target potential victims accessing homeless services. To combat this, frontline services can work in partnership and improve the way they share information. By improving their ability to collect intelligence, this can increase chances of detection and develop protocols for joint working across regions and sectors.

It is essential that frontline homelessness services are aware of the risks to their clients and do all they can to spot the signs, report suspicions appropriately and protect potential victims. To help this, Homeless Link has updated their ‘Tafficking and labour exploitation: Guidance for frontline homelessness services’ and developed additional resources, including a poster and more good practice examples.

You can download the updated guidance here.