GLAA Intelligence Picture Q4 2023-2024 (Jan - March 2024)
Introduction
Purpose
This is a quarterly report providing an update on the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (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 Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking (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 January to 31st March 2024.
To align with other GLAA intelligence products this report will now report using April-March. Therefore, this document will be referred to as Quarter 4.
Victim Profile
Demographic
Gender of potential victims was reported in 19% of the cases analysed.
As expected, most reports suggested exclusively male (or groups of male) victims. Where gender is reported, the number of cases reporting exclusively male victims was 46% in this quarter. Exclusively female victims were present in 23% of cases.
Age of potential victims was reported in just 4% of reports/referrals during this quarter, resulting in no meaningful conclusions being able to be drawn.
Nationality (or at least a vague geographical area) of potential victims was reported in 33% of the reports/referrals.
For this reporting period the most common reported nationality was Indian. Indian nationality was present in 4 reports/referrals, with 3 of those relating to the care sector and 1 to the food service sector.
This quarter saw the following nationality as new addition;
• Portuguese
Table 1 forced labour reports or referrals by victim nationality Q1-Q4 2023-2024
Some reports have identified ‘African’ as a nationality as opposed to a specific area. This is reflected in the nationality table above and should be considered when reading the data.
Indian Q1 6 Q2 8 Q3 15 Q4 4
Nigerian Q2 4 Q3 7 Q4 3
Romanian Q1 1 Q3 6 Q4 3
Zimbabwean Q1 2 Q2 4
African Q2 3 Q4 3
Pakistani Q2 4 Q4 1
Ghanian Q2 3 Q3 1 Q4 1
Bulgarian Q1 1 Q2 1 Q4 3
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.
Table 2.0: forced labour reports/referrals by victim vulnerability-Q1-Q4 2023-24 (Top 5)
Tied into Sponsorship/Visa Q1 10 Q2 29 Q3 33 Q4 32
Immigration status Q1 4 Q2 7 Q3 14 Q4 8
Limited/No English Q1 8 Q2 4 Q3 8 Q4 4
Debt bonded Q1 3 Q2 6 Q3 7 Q4 5
Minors involved Q1 2 Q2 4 Q3 4 Q4 1
Exploiter Profile
Demographic
Gender of potential exploiters was reported in 34% 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 50%.
Cases of exclusively female exploiters totalled 16% in this quarter.
Age of potential exploiters was reported in 11% of reports/referrals in this quarter.
The most reported age range was 45-54 and the average age was 42. The youngest age recorded was 20 and the oldest was 53.
Sectors
The GLAA intelligence picture identified possible labour exploitation in 15 different industry sectors during quarter 4.
The top four reported sectors for this quarter were care home/social care, agriculture, car wash and food processing (joint third). These sectors are profiled in more detail in the following pages.
Care home/social care has remained the most reported sector not only this quarter but throughout 2023/2024. It was the most reported sector this quarter by a wide margin (35 reports/referrals). This large number of reports/referrals is almost certainly due to the GLAA’s ongoing involvement with Op Topaz, the GLAA continuing to serve as a signpost for intelligence and information moving to / from / between partner agencies and departments, and to assist in developing the GLAA's intelligence picture of the care sector.
Referrals/reports from the agriculture and food processing sectors have remained fairly consistent throughout the year, however food processing has not previously featured in the top 3 sectors this year.
Referrals and reports with forced labour indicators in the GLAA regulated sectors amounted to 10% of reporting in quarter 4.
Table 3.0: forced labour reports/referrals by sector Q1- Q4 2023-24 (Top 5)
Care Q1 15 Q2 38 Q3 47 Q4 35
Car wash Q1 7 Q2 6 Q3 8 Q4 4
Agriculture Q1 6 Q2 6 Q3 7 Q4 6
Construction Q1 3 Q2 6 Q3 5 Q4 3
Food processing Q1 3 Q2 1 Q3 5 Q4 4
Overview of top sectors with forced labour indicators (Q4 2023-2024)
1. Care Homes/Social Care
Background: There has been an increase of reports and referrals from the care home/social care sector over the last year. It is highly likely that the number of reports/referrals will continue to increase due to it being a GLAA control strategy priority and the development of our intelligence picture to establish whether labour provision into the the care sector should be regulated.
Share: Care homes/social care was the most reported sector for this Quarter, accounting for 47% of all referrals/reports with forced labour indicators.
Victims: Where the gender of victims was reported, victims were mostly female. The top nationality recorded was African.
Exploiters: Where the gender of exploiters was recorded, exploiters were predominantly male. The top nationality reported was British.
Offending model: In 100% of the cases, it was reported or implied that the Employer End User Model was in use, where the exploiter was the owner /manager of the care company.
Exploitation type: The most common means of exploiting the victims was being made to work long hours. This was followed by the payment of inflated fees and issues with pay.
Location: The most common county recorded in relation to care sector reports was Greater London, followed by Derbyshire and Hertfordshire.
Accommodation: Accommodation type was recorded in 8% of cases, with house being the most common. In 25% of cases the accommodation was provided by the exploiter and in 33% of these cases the accommodation was described as substandard.
Recruitment: The method of recruitment remains a large intelligence gap for the GLAA.
2. Agriculture
Background: Reporting from the agriculture sector has remained consistent throughout the year. The agriculture sector is a regulated sector and remains part of the GLAA control strategy priorities through the focus on exploitation of seasonal workers in the agriculture sector.
Share: This was the second most common reported sector for forced labour in this Quarter, accounting for 8% of reports.
Victims: Gender of the victim was recorded in 33% of cases and victims were predominately male. Nationality was reported in 50% of the cases, the nationalities recorded were Bulgarian and Nigerian.
Exploiter: Gender was recorded in 66% of cases, with all cases recording male exploiters. There was limited information on the nationality of exploiters.
Offending model: Offender, in all but one case the Employer – End User model was used. The one other case was the Employer (Intermediary) Model where a recruitment agency was recruiting workers from Bulgaria.
Exploitation type: The most common exploitation types were inadequate pay and working long hours.
Location: There were no common trends in locations reported.
Accommodation: In 33% of the reports the accommodation had been organised by the exploiter.
Recruitment: The method of recruitment as in most sectors, remains a large intelligence gap.
3. Car Wash
Background: From Q1 to Q4 car wash reporting has decreased by 43%. This decrease is highly likely to be a result of the GLAA holding talks with the key referrer of car wash intelligence to improve data quality.
Share: Car wash was the third most common sector in this quarter (joint with food processing), accounting for 5% of cases reported.
Victims: There was limited data on gender and nationality of victims for this sector. All of the cases implied that the victims showed signs of vulnerability such as speaking limited English or their immigration status.
Exploiters: Where gender is recorded, most cases showed that exploiters were male. Nationality was recorded in 3 reports/referrals. Nationalities noted were Albanian and Iraqi.
Offending model: Where recorded, in all cases the exploitation was carried out using the Employer End User model, where the exploiter was the owner/manager of the business.
Exploitation type: The most common exploitation types were working long hours and inadequate pay.
Location: The most common region with potential forced labour offences in car washes was the East.
Accommodation: Accommodation type was recorded in one referral, which showed the victim lived on site in substandard conditions.
Recruitment: The method of recruitment as in most sectors, remains a large intelligence gap.
4. Food Processing
Background: Reports/referrals from the food processing sector have remained consistent throughout the year, although it has never featured in the top 3 sectors. The food processing sector is a GLAA regulated sector.
Share: Food processing was the third most common sector in this quarter (joint with car wash), accounting for 5% of cases reported.
Victims: There was limited data on gender and nationality of victims for this sector.
Exploiters: There was limited data on gender and nationality of exploiters for this sector.
Offending model: Where recorded, in all cases the exploitation was carried out using the Employer End User model, where the exploiter was the owner/manager of the business.
Exploitation type: The most common exploitation type were issues with pay, which included not being paid enough and workers having money taken from them for various things.
Location: The were no common trends in locations reported.
Accommodation: There was limited data regarding accommodation.
Recruitment: The method of recruitment as in most sectors, remains a large intelligence gap.
Location
The GLAA forced and compulsory labour intelligence picture for this quarter shows a varied spread of locations across the UK.
Greater London was the most reported county in quarter 4 with 11% of the reports/referrals coming from this area. Sectors of note in this area were care, construction and hotels/restaurants. The second most reported county was West Yorkshire with 8% of the reports. Sectors recorded in this county were care; manufacturing and courier activities.
Table 4.0: forced labour reports/referrals by county Q1- Q4 2023-24 (Top 6)
Greater London Q1 9 Q2 10 Q3 5 Q4 8
West Yorkshire Q1 2 Q2 5 Q3 5 Q4 6
South Yorkshire Q1 4 Q2 2 Q3 4 Q4 5
West Midlands Q1 10 Q3 6 Q4 6
Kent Q1 2 Q2 4 Q3 4 Q4 2
Hampshire Q1 3 Q2 4 Q3 3 Q4 2
Recruitment
The recruitment method of victims remains a large intelligence gap for the GLAA. In this quarter, the recruitment method was recorded in 7% of cases. The methods recorded were trafficked into the country or through family/friends. Recruitment location was explicitly recorded in 13% of reports/referral. Locations recorded were:
• Africa
• Bulgaria
• France
• Ghana
• Pakistan
• Romania
• Sri Lanka
• UK
In 7% of reports recruitment from overseas was mentioned but no specific location.
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 wasn’t clearly recorded in any of the reports/referrals.
Accommodation
Some form of accommodation type was recorded in 23% of the reports this quarter, with the most common being described as on site or caravan. Other types of accommodation recorded were house, house of multiple occupation (HMO), flat, above work place and on the workplace floor.
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 33% of reports in this quarter. In 35% of these cases there was suggestion of the accommodation being substandard.
Table 6.0: forced labour reports/referrals by accommodation type Q1 - Q4 2023-24 (Top 5)
On site Q1 7 Q2 5 Q3 2 Q4 4
Caravan Q1 4 Q2 3 Q3 4 Q4 4
House Q1 4 Q2 2 Q3 2 Q4 2
HMO Q1 1 Q3 6 Q4 1
Flat Q1 3 Q3 1 Q4 1
Exploitation type
There was a wide range of exploitation types reported this quarter. The most common was pay issues, which featured in 61% of reports/referrals. This included not receiving an adequate wage, having wages withheld and unexplained deductions from their wages.
The next most common exploitation type was being made to work long hours. This exploitation type was most likely to be linked to the care sector and was often due to workers having to travel to various locations during one working shift.
Table 7.0: forced labour reports by exploitation type Q1-Q4 2(Top 5)
Pay issues Q1 19 Q2 32 Q3 42 Q4 43
Long working hours Q1 19 Q2 19 Q3 39 Q4 36
Inflated fees Q1 4 Q2 19 Q3 19 Q4 16
Accommodation issues Q1 13 Q2 16 Q3 17 Q4 11
Threat of revocation of sponsorship/visa Q1 5 Q2 12 Q3 14 Q4 16
Horizon Scanning
Following the United Kingdom’s (UK) exit from the European Union (EU[1]), recruiters and businesses can hire workers from outside the EU. These workers may be at a greater risk of exploitation.
The Ukrainian war has resulted in around 174,000 people being moved to the UK under the Ukraine Family Scheme and Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme as of 9 May 2023. Moreover, Ukrainians have been the most common recipients of Seasonal Worker Visas (42%).[2]
Due to the increase in rental costs, there is a higher risk of exploitation e.g., debt bondage.
With further increases in the cost of living, exploiters are able to manipulate further workers being vulnerable and exposed into exploitative practices. This is due to financial pressure; particularly those individuals in sectors which are deemed to be low-skilled and are typically low-paid.
Moreover, there is an increase in outsourcing to reduce costs- this includes the use of umbrella companies.
The Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024
Now that this Act has come into effect, victims of modern slavery, human trafficking and/or labour exploitation are more likely to be criminalised. This means that victims will not be looked at subjectively and instead be grouped with criminals and sent to Rwanda.
The Illegal Migration Bill (2023) / The Illegal Immigration Act (April 2023)
A potential for irregular migrants to be deterred from reporting any incidents of forced labour and/or exploitation.
A potential to increase vulnerability and opportunities of coercion.
Individuals who do not report may be criminalised, including refugees who enter via irregular means.
Stop the Boats Bill (March 2023)
An increasing risk around the lack of effective safeguarding and support.
A potential for the decrease of public sympathy.
[1] The EU consists of 28 countries. These are the following: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy6, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.