The simple answer is “yes”.
40.3 million people are estimated to be trapped in some form of modern slavery in the world today
136,000 victims are estimated to be in the UK
6,993 potential victims were found in the UK in 2018.
The 6,933 potential victims found in the UK in 2018 were trafficked from 130 different countries. The top three source countries for victims found in the UK were: UK, Albania and Vietnam.
UK referrals increased by nearly 100% from 820 in 2017 to 1,625 in 2018. The numbers of children referred increased by 48%. These increases were driven by labour exploitation, which includes those exploited for criminal purposes by ‘County Lines’ drug gangs.
Of the victims referred, 2728 were female and 4261 were male; 3856 were adults and 3137 were minors.
The most common categories of adult exploitation were
Around 1,500 criminal investigations are currently live in the UK.
