This is a quick-read version of Forced labour and adult social care: Leaders’ Briefing (2021), which highlights its key messages. To gain a greater understanding of the topic you can download and read the full resource.

Labour exploitation, domestic servitude, sexual exploitation and criminal exploitation are the most prevalent forms of exploitation in the UK. The UK is arguably a destination country, as for many it appears to offer opportunities for a better life, and where there is a demand for cheap labour. Criminals exploit this desire for a better life, as well as exploiting vulnerabilities created due to the precarity in people’s lives.

In addition to the trafficking of human beings into the UK for exploitation, there is also much internal trafficking within the UK. Individuals who are homeless, use drugs or alcohol, experience mental health difficulties, or have a learning disability, are more likely to be exploited and trafficked into forced labour.

When considering the experiences and support needs of victims/survivors of forced labour, there is also an urgent need for adult social care to carefully review its own supply chains. Particular attention is needed with the employment of people working in residential and nursing care, and the agency workers who so often supplement their numbers and work in the community.

Definitions

It is essential to understand that there may be no clear distinction between different types of exploitation and that, frequently, exploitation can take multiple forms, with individuals being manipulated and controlled in various ways.

Human trafficking is the movement of a person from one place to another for the purposes of exploitation.

Modern slavery is an umbrella term used in the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to encompass the crimes of human trafficking, along with slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour. Victims of modern slavery are prevented from leaving their situation of exploitation through the use of threats, punishment, violence, coercion and deception. It is estimated that there are 136,000 potential victims of modern slavery in the UK and that, globally, over 40 million people are living in slavery.

Forced labour or compulsory labour is where victims are made ‘to work very long hours, often in hard conditions without relevant training and equipment, and to hand over the majority if not all of their wages to their traffickers’.

Domestic servitude is where individuals are forced to work in private households, with restrictions on their movement, and forced over long hours to undertake tasks such as childcare and housekeeping for little, if any, pay.

Sexual exploitation is any non-consensual or abusive sexual acts, including prostitution, escorting and pornography. Individuals who appear to be consensually engaging in providing sexual services are also often exploited.

The National Referral Mechanism is the framework used in the UK to ‘establish appropriate mechanisms aimed at early identification of, assistance to and support for victims, in cooperation with relevant support organisations’.

First responders are specific organisations who have the responsibility to identify potential victims of human trafficking, slavery, servitude, or forced or compulsory labour and recognise the indicators of exploitation. They also gather information to understand what has happened to potential victims. Local authorities are first responder organisations.

Legislation

Anti-slavery legislation has consolidated trafficking offences into one place, with provisions made for the offences of slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour and human trafficking. Provisions have now also been made for victims to be protected, including statutory defences for victims who have been forced to commit crime.

Forced labour

Victims of forced labour can be exploited in several ways. Some of the methods of exploitation reported in the UK include:

• Victims are exploited for multiple purposes in isolated environments.
• Victims work for offenders.
• Victims work for someone other than offenders.

Victims of forced labour have frequently lived precarious lives, caused by a range of intersecting experiences, and criminals exploit this precarity. Factors can include poverty, homelessness, using drugs or alcohol, experiencing mental health difficulties, having a learning disability, illness and physical disability, fleeing domestic violence or other abuse, emotional or familial or romantic relationships, religious or cultural beliefs, inequality and discrimination.

Those who exploit others for their labour range from opportunistic individuals, family groups and companies, through to sophisticated organised networks. British nationals are as vulnerable as individuals from other countries.

Accommodation is also often provided as part of employment arrangements and used as a form of control, as workers are left relying on employers for somewhere to live. When wages are paid, they tend to be ‘cash in hand’ payments and frequently without payslips.

There are various methods of coercion used by exploiters to control victims. When coercion has been used to control and exploit an individual, then it is irrelevant if the victims have agreed and consented to the initial offer.

Identification, care and support

There are many indicators of trafficking and forced labour, not all of which will be experienced in every individual situation. Indicators alert practitioners to concerns that should always be investigated further, but it is important to recognise that some indicators may not be immediately apparent.

Indicators of labour exploitation include:

• Restricted freedom
• Behaviour
• Working conditions
• Accommodation
• Finance

Victims/survivors of forced labour and labour exploitation face a range of barriers in accessing help and support. These include their freedom of movement, issues with communication and language, believing that authorities are not to be trusted and fear of deportation due to their migrant status. All of these factors require organisations and communities to take a multi-agency approach in identifying, caring for and supporting victims/survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking.

Labour exploitation in adult social care

There are concerns that labour shortages in several sectors will create further opportunities for exploitation. While original predictions may be affected by Covid-19, one area where there is increasing concern about labour exploitation is in the mostly hidden sector of health and adult social care. In this sector, regulatory policies focus on protecting the human rights of adults and carers, with little attention paid to the wellbeing and risks of exploitation experienced by the care workers themselves.

It is exceptionally difficult to identify labour exploitation, with the involvement of intermediaries - such as labour brokers, employment agencies or recruiters - obscuring evidence of criminal procurement of labour. The longer and more complex the supply chain in adult social care, the more it can weaken managerial oversight, exposing care workers to a more significant risk of exploitation through forced labour.

Purchasers of care need to investigate and be confident that they have carried out thorough due diligence on their supply chains.