Modern Slavery Reconsiderations Fact Sheet

Recent changes in UK law have seen stricter decision-making on modern slavery survivors’ cases, potentially making it harder for victims to access identification and support. Crucially, where survivors have been wrongly rejected, there is now a much shorter timeframe for them to ask decision-makers to look at their case again. The reconsideration deadline is now set at 30 calendar days, leaving survivors and their advocates little time to get the paperwork, evidence, or even legal help needed to request a reconsideration. Survivors may not be informed of their right to ask for a reconsideration upon receiving a negative decision either because they may not be served the decision, may not receive it in a timely manner, or may not be accessing specialist support.

This fact sheet explores recent changes to the process for deciding modern slavery cases, the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), the reconsideration process, the human impact of poor decision-making, and what needs to change.

Authors

This fact sheet is written by Emily Vaughn and Maya Esslemont of After Exploitation, and Eleonora Fais on behalf of the Anti-Trafficking MonitoringGroup (ATMG).

Contributors

We are very grateful for the knowledge and frontline expertise shared by the following organisations who have contributed to this work:

ATMG members: Anti-Slavery International, Bawso, ECPAT UK, Flourish Northern Ireland, Focus onLabour Exploitation (FLEX), Helen Bamber Foundation, Hope for Justice, Just Right Scotland, Kalayaan, Scottish Refugee Council, Snowdrop Project, TARAservice and UNICEF UK.

Bindmans LLP, Causeway, City of Westminster, Duncan Lewis, Hammersmith & Fulham Council, Human Trafficking Foundation, Migrants Organise, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Southwell & Partners