The scale of exploitation in the care sector

Unseen released its annual assessment of calls to the Modern Slavery Helpline in April 2024. Once again, it reported that the number of care workers calling the Helpline had rocketed.

It revealed:

there were 15 care sector-related modern slavery cases in 2021 (accounting for 63 potential victims). This soared to 106 cases in 2022
In 2022, 708 potential victims of modern slavery indicated in the care sector came forward to the Helpline
In 2023, 918 potential victims of modern slavery indicated in the care sector (a 30% rise)
For the first time, India became the most prevalent potential victim nationality calling the Helpline, predominantly due to labour exploitation within the care sector. This shift marks a change from past years, where Romanian nationals had been the most common nationality reported every year since the Helpline was founded in 2016.
In the first six months of 2023, care workers indicated to the Helpline had an average debt of £11,800, to pay for recruitment, visa and travel costs
Between January and June 2023 the Helpline recorded that 25 different nationalities were affected by this exploitation, with 96% of potential victims indicated as being from Asian or African countries.
Exploitation of Indian, Zimbabwean and Nigerian nationals was particularly prominent in care homes – of the 46 Zimbabweans who were identified as potential victims of slavery in the UK last year, all but one were working in the care sector.
48% of potential victims from the care sector were Indian; 15% from Zimbabwe; 8% from Nigeria
The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) - whose role is to protect workers from labour exploitation across the UK – recently revealed it has 17 ongoing care sector investigations and that it was looking at more than 300 pieces of intelligence.