Britons fall victim to modern slavery
CRIME: Britons are increasingly falling victim to labour exploitation, according to a new report whose authors claim it exposes the true scale of modern-day slavery. It found British victims had increased by 364 per cent.
Slavery and exploitation continues to thrive in every town and city. Ian Waterfield, head of operations at the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority.
BRITONS ARE increasingly falling victim to labour exploitation, according to a new in-depth report whose authors claim it exposes the true scale of modernday slavery in Britain.
The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) scrutinised its work with victims and offenders, and considered the findings of inspections at hundreds of workplaces to identify who is being exploited, which industries are affected and what methods are used.
It found that victims of labour exploitation are most often Vietnamese, Albanian and British – and that British victims had increased by 364 per cent.
Forced labour accounts for about 30 per cent of all exploitation and the majority of victims are male EU nationals from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
Some workers are being charged a daily rate of transport to and from work, with wages taken directly from their bank account, while so-called ‘debt bondage’ is an increasing tactic of criminals who force their victims to work off debts.
Social media is being used to recruit workers who go on to be exploited, with some people arriving in the UK for work that does not exist.
Victims tend to live in poor conditions without basic facilities like electricity, heating and water, and are told they will lose their jobs if they find somewhere else to live.
In the 12 months to March last year, police in England and Wales recorded 2,255 modern slavery offences but the GLAA believe this is just a fraction of the tens of thousands of offences that have been committed in that period.
Roger Bannister, the GLAA’s newly appointed interim chief executive, said: “The sad reality is that the criminality that drives exploitation and slavery is quite close to home in the towns, cities and countryside in which we live and work. I welcome the report findings and I am proud to help lead an organisation delivering some impressive results.”
The GLAA was handed policestyle powers last May and a remit to tackle exploitation across the UK labour market. Since then, its officers have identified 1,335 abused workers and arrested 107 people.
The authority has also recovered £94,000 for workers, seized £97,000 in cash and identified £150,000 of withheld wages and £231,000 of withheld holiday pay.
Its workforce has doubled, to more than 120 staff, to cope with its workload.
Ian Waterfield, the GLAA’s head of operations, said: “We do not stand alone; our achievements are a result of the close relationships we have with a vast range of partner agencies, businesses and charities. But there is much more to do.
“Slavery and exploitation continues to thrive in every town and every city and our dedicated workforce will continue to build on what we’ve achieved.”
Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability Victoria Atkins added: “The barbaric nature of modern slavery means it destroys the lives of its victims, which is why we introduced the world-leading Modern Slavery Act 2015 and increased the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority funding by £2.6m a year to help tackle modern slavery and wider labour exploitation.
“This report is part of the GLAA’s crucial work to understand the scale of exploitation of vulnerable workers so that law enforcement can identify and protect victims, and convict their perpetrators.”