GLAA Intelligence Picture Q3 (July-September 2023)
Introduction
Purpose
This is a Quarterly report providing an update on the GLAA intelligence picture of forced and compulsory labour in the UK, defined as “All work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of a penalty and for which the person has not offered themselves voluntarily” ILO definition.
The report concerns MSHT for labour exploitation only. It does not cover MSHT for other purposes such as sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation (drug cultivation, drug dealing / county lines) or forced begging.
The report is intended to describe the intelligence picture of forced and compulsory labour as reported to and investigated by the GLAA, rather than an all-encompassing national picture of MSHT. Some of the GLAA findings therefore may differ to those of other government departments tackling modern slavery.
Neither is the report an analysis of labour market non-compliances where MSHT indicators are absent.
This report covers the period 1st July to 30th September 2023.
Victim Profile
Demographic
Gender of potential victims was reported in 33% of the cases analysed.
Where gender was reported, 58% of the cases reported both male and female victims. This differs from previous intelligence pictures where victims were predominately male.
The number of cases reporting exclusively male victims was 35% in this Quarter. Exclusively female victims were present in just 8% of cases, with all relating to the care sector.
Age of potential victims was reported in 11% of reports/referrals during this Quarter.
The most reported age range in this reporting period was 25-34 and the average age was 33. The youngest age described was 20 and the oldest was 61.
Nationality (or at least a vague geographical area) of potential victims was reported in 43% of the reports/referrals.
For this reporting period most potential victims were of Indian nationality. Indian nationality was present in 8 reports/referrals, with 6 of those relating to the care sector. The second most common victim nationality groups were Zimbabwean and Nigerian, which were recorded in 4 reports/referrals each. All these reports/referrals were related to the care sector.
This quarter saw the following nationalities as new additions;
- Chilean
- Fijian
- Philippine
- Russian
- Tajikistani
- Turkish
Table 1.0: MSHT reports/referrals by victim nationality Q1-Q3 (Top 7 - data recorded as free text)
Indian: Q1 10 Q2 6 Q3 8
Zimbabwean: Q1 4 Q2 2 Q3 4
Romanian: Q1 6 Q2 10
Asian: Q1 5 Q2 10
Bulgarian: Q1 4 Q2 1 Q3 1
African: Q1 3 Q2 0 Q3 3
Nigerian: Q1 2 Q2 0 Q3 4
Vulnerability
70% of the reports/referrals in the reporting period indicated that potential victims displayed some kind of vulnerability to exploitation.
The most common vulnerability was the potential victim being tied into a certificate of sponsorship or visa. This on occasions led to workers being forced to work for the employer even if the conditions were unacceptable and the employer using the threat of cancelling the sponsorship if the worker complained.
The second most common vulnerability was the potential victims’ status as an irregular migrant, which often lead to threats of being handed over to the authorities by the exploiter if they challenged their poor working conditions.
During this Quarter, vulnerabilities such as being trafficked, mental health issues and special education needs (SEN) were also recorded. These were vulnerabilities that hadn’t been recorded in Q1 or Q2.
Table 2.0: MSHT reports/referrals by victim vulnerability-Q1-Q3 (Top 6)
Tied into Sponsorship/Visa: Q1 11 Q2 10 Q3 29
Immigration status: Q1 18 Q2 4 Q3 7
Limited/No English: Q1 12 Q2 8 Q3 4
Debt bonded: Q1 1 Q2 3 Q3 6
Student: Q1 3 Q2 1 Q2 2
Minors involved: Q1 0 Q2 2 Q3 4
Exploiter Profile
Demographic
Gender of potential exploiters was reported in 38% of reports/referrals during this reporting period.
As with previous GLAA intelligence pictures, most reports/referrals suggested exclusively male exploiters. In this Quarter the number of cases reporting exclusively male exploiters was 45% which has decreased since the last Quarter (77%).
Cases of exclusively female exploiters totalled 30% in this Quarter, which is a significant increase since the last Quarter (15%). 78% of cases where the potential exploiter was described as solely female related to the care sector.
Age of potential exploiters was reported in 14% of reports/referrals in this Quarter.
The most reported age ranges were 35-44 and 55-64 and the average age was 49. The youngest age recorded was 30 and the oldest was 66.
Nationality (or at least a vague geographical area) of potential exploiters was reported or implied in only 11% of reports/referrals during this reporting period.
For this reporting period the majority of potential exploiters were British or Romanian, which were present in 2 reports/referrals each.
Table 3.0: MSHT reports/referrals by exploiter nationality -Q1&Q2 (Top 5)
British: Q1 7 Q2 0 Q3 2
Romanian: Q1 3 Q2 1 Q3 2
Indian: Q1 2 Q2 1 Q3 1
Zimbabwean: Q1 2 Q2 1 Q3 0
Kenyan: Q1 1 Q2 1 Q3 0
Agency Involved
In this Quarter, it was clear in 9% of reports/referrals that a recruitment agency was involved in the supply of the potential victim.
57% of these cases, were linked to the agriculture sector. In most of these cases it was suggested that although the agency wasn’t involved in facilitating the exploitation, they were aware of it.
Sectors
The GLAA intelligence picture identified possible labour exploitation in 13 different industry sectors during Quarter 3.
The top two reported sectors for this Quarter were care home/social care and hotels and restaurants. The third most common sectors recorded were agriculture car wash and construction. The top two sectors are profiled in more detail in the following pages.
Care home/social care undoubtedly had the most referrals/reports this Quarter, whilst reporting among the other most reported sectors was comparable. Referrals/reports from the agriculture and car wash sectors remained consistent since the last Quarter, whilst construction and hotels and restaurants have seen an increase.
This Quarter saw the addition of the following sectors:
- Security
- Shellfish gathering
Referrals and reports with MSHT indicators in the GLAA-regulated sectors amounted to 10% of reporting in Quarter 3.
Table 4.0: MSHT reports/referrals by sector -Q1-Q3 (Top 5)
Care: Q1 23 Q2 15 Q3 38
Car wash: Q1 20 Q2 7 Q3 6
Agriculture: Q1 5 Q2 6 Q3 6
Hotels and restaurants: Q1 6 Q2 2 Q3 7
Construction: Q1 6 Q2 3 Q3 6
Overview of top sectors with forced labour indicators (Q3 2023)
Care Homes/Social Care
Background: There has been an increase of reports and referrals from the care home/social care sector since Q2, increasing from 15 reports/referrals to 38. There has been recent interest from the media regarding worker exploitation in care homes, which may have led to the increase in reporting.
Share: Care homes/social care was the most reported sector for this Quarter, accounting for 48% of all referrals/reports with forced labour indicators.
Victims: Where the gender of victims was reported, there was an equal split of both male and female victims. The top nationality recorded was Indian.
Exploiters: Where the gender of exploiters has been recorded, again there was an equal split of both male and female exploiters. There was not enough data regarding nationality to draw any meaningful conclusions.
Exploitation type: The most common means of exploiting the victims was victims paying inflated fees. This was followed by issues with pay and threats of revocation of visa or sponsorship.
Location: The top recorded county for forced labour indicators in the care sector was Lancashire with 4 referrals/reports.
Accommodation: Accommodation type was recorded in 11% of cases, with house and log cabin as the types recorded. In 42% of cases the accommodation was provided by the exploiter and in 25% of these cases the accommodation was described as substandard.
Recruitment: The method of recruitment, remains a large intelligence gap. Only two referrals described the recruitment method, Facebook and trafficked into the country.
Hotels and Restaurants
Background: Reports/referrals from the hotels and restaurants sector have increased since the last Quarter. The reports/referrals came predominately from the restaurant sector.
Share: Hotels and Restaurants was the second most common sector in this Quarter, accounting for 9% of cases reported.
Victims: Gender was only recorded in one case, which was female. Nationality was recorded in 3 cases, 2 being of Indian nationality and the other British. 71% of cases implied victims showed signs of vulnerability with the most common being immigration status.
Exploiters: Where gender is recorded, most cases showed that exploiters were male. There was not enough data to make a conclusion about age and nationality.
Exploitation type: The most common exploitation types were issues with pay, verbal abuse and working long hours.
Location: The top recorded county for forced labour indicators in the hotels/restaurants sector was London with 2 referrals/reports.
Accommodation: There was not enough data regarding accommodations of workers in this sector to draw any meaningful conclusions.
Recruitment: Once case recording the recruitment method of the workers. It was suggested that the labour user went to India to recruit the workers.
Location
The GLAA forced and compulsory labour intelligence picture for this Quarter shows a varied spread of locations across the UK.
London was the most reported county in Quarter 3 with 13% of the reports/referrals coming from this area. The most common sectors in London were care, construction, food service and hotels and restaurants. The second most reported county was West Yorkshire with 6% of the reports. The most common sector in West Yorkshire was care.
Table 5.0: MSHT reports/referrals by county -Q1-Q3 (Top 5)
London: Q1 11 Q2 9 Q3 10
West Yorkshire: Q1 4 Q2 2 Q3 5
South Yorkshire: Q1 5 Q2 4 Q3 2
Norfolk: Q1 5 Q2 3 Q3 3
Kent: Q1 4 Q2 2 Q3 4
Recruitment
The recruitment method of victims remains an extremely large intelligence gap for the GLAA. In this Quarter, the recruitment method was recorded in 4 cases. The methods recorded were trafficked into the country, Facebook and being recruited by the labour user in their home country. Recruitment location was recorded in 9% of reports and all the locations were overseas. The following countries were recorded:
- Cameroon
- Eastern Europe
- Fiji
- Ghana
- India
- Zambia
Transport to the UK
This is another large intelligence gap for the GLAA. However, it is also not always relevant as not all potential victims are trafficked into the UK by an exploiter.
In this Quarter the method of transport was only clearly recorded in 2 cases. In all these cases it was an aeroplane.
Accommodation
Accommodation type was recorded in 16% of the reports this Quarter, with the most common being described as on site. Other types of accommodation recorded this Quarter were caravan, house and log cabin.
The data shows that accommodation continues to be a factor in the exploitation of victims of forced and compulsory labour, with accommodation provided or controlled by potential exploiters in 36% of reports in this Quarter. In most of these cases, there was suggestion of the accommodation being substandard.
Table 7.0: MSHT reports/referrals by accommodation type -Q1-Q3 (Top 5)
Onsite: Q1 9 Q2 7 Q3 5
Caravan: Q1 4 Q2 4 Q3 3
House: Q1 0 Q2 4 Q3 2
HMO: Q1 3 Q2 1 Q3 0
Flat: Q1 0 Q2 2 Q3 0
Exploitation type
There was a wide range of exploitation types reported this Quarter. The most common was pay issues, which featured in 46% of reports/referrals. This included not receiving an adequate wage, having wages withheld and unexplained deductions from their wages.
The next most common exploitation types were paying inflated work finding fees and being made to work long hours. These exploitation types were most likely to be linked to the care sector.
Table 8.0: MSHT reports by exploitation type -Q1-Q3 (Top 5)
Pay issues: Q1 37 Q2 19 Q3 32
Long working hours: Q1 18 Q2 19 Q3 19
Inflated fees: Q1 11 Q2 4 Q3 19
Live on site: Q1 9 Q2 8 Q3 9
Controlled: Q1 12 Q2 8 Q3 4
Horizon scanning
Cost of living crisis
The cost-of-living crisis is likely to increase the harm on victims of modern slavery as exploiters look to cut costs and workers may be willing to accept less favourable work and working conditions.
War in Ukraine
The Ukraine conflict has disrupted the supply of seasonal workers, with Ukrainians representing the largest proportion of workers since 2019. A shortage of workers may lead to increased employment of irregular migrants and the MSHT risks that it brings.
Points-Based Immigration System
Employers are more likely to hire illegal workers to gain cheap labour as exploiters look to cut costs, and if they were to hire skilled workers the costs would add up.
However, this system allows for the employer to sponsor workers, such as seasonal agricultural workers, to come to the UK. This means that workers are likely to come to the UK legally and therefore, without being exploited or trafficked. Yet, it is still a possibility of modern slavery and/or labour exploitation due to the time-consuming nature of the system.
Stop the Boats Bill March 2023 and The Legal Immigration Bill 2023
Victims of modern slavery arriving on small boats may still be recognised as victims, however they will not be able to access the NRM system, associated support or prevent deportation unless assisting police or prosecutors with criminal proceeding related to their exploitation. These victims will be detained and either sent back home or to a safe country (e.g., Rwanda) where they are able to claim asylum. Once removed, they will not be able to re-enter the UK. This could deter irregular migrants from reporting incidences of forced labour/ exploitation and increase their vulnerability.
Seasonal Worker Scheme
An immigration visa route means that workers must meet eligibility requirements or be sponsored. They must apply to work in horticulture for up to 6 months, and poultry from the 2nd of October to the 31st of December (within the same year). This means that workers have to go through a more legalised route to enter the UK for a seasonal worker opportunity, thus minimising the risk for MSHT and labour exploitation. Nevertheless, this may lead to a shortage of workers in the UK.