Modern Slavery: Suspects charged in just 11% of North Yorkshire cases despite rise in offences

Only 11% of crimes recorded by North Yorkshire Police under the 2015 Modern Slavery Act have resulted in charges being brought against the perpetrator, a JPIMedia investigation has found.
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Data has revealed that police forces across the country have failed to bring charges for more than 19,000 slavery and trafficking crimes since the 2015 Modern Slavery Act was passed, with suspects facing action in fewer than one in 20 cases.

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And the figures for North Yorkshire Police paint the same picture - although 99 modern slavery offences have been reported to the force since the legislation came into force, just 11 have resulted in significant action.

The number of crimes reported to North Yorkshire Police under the 2015 Modern Slavery Act has risen.The number of crimes reported to North Yorkshire Police under the 2015 Modern Slavery Act has risen.
The number of crimes reported to North Yorkshire Police under the 2015 Modern Slavery Act has risen.

Although the figures may seem low, the force comes in with the seventh highest charge rate of the 44 police forces in England and Wales.

The 2015 Act was designed to crack down on the “appalling crime” of modern slavery - which ranges from forced prostitution to labour exploitation and domestic servitude - with simplified offences and tougher punishments.

The investigation by JPIMedia shows just 4.4% of modern slavery offences recorded by English and Welsh police forces between 2015 and September 2020 resulted in a charge.

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The Human Trafficking Foundation, which brings together charities, public bodies and parliamentarians working to tackle slavery, has now said “radical” change is needed to how UK authorities pursue offenders and support victims.

Home Office figures show police forces in England and Wales have recorded 19,632 offences under the Modern Slavery Act to date - but just 864 of these saw a suspect charged.

The proportion of cases resulting in a charge has fallen every year since 2015 as the volume of offences has increased.

Between 2019 and 2020, five offences under the act were reported in North Yorkshire, with not one resulting in a charge.

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And the number of modern slavery crimes reported to the force has also risen dramatically recently - with 74 recorded in the last year.

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said: “Modern Slavery blights communities and causes significant long term harm to its victims. North Yorkshire is not immune to Modern Slavery and officers work hard to deliver justice for those victims who have been brave enough to come forward.”

Tamara Barnett, director of the Human Trafficking Foundation, said modern slavery cases were often “very, very difficult” to investigate and that a lack of wider support for victims means they are often distrustful of and unwilling to work with police.

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But while the Home Office figures show police in England and Wales most commonly cite failure to identify a suspect and victims not supporting action as reasons for not bringing charges (8,358 and 6,664 cases respectively since 2015) there have also been 2,697 cases where a suspect was identified and the victim was on board.

Ms Barnett added that “there are definitely better police forces unfortunately” which she put down to a lack of leadership in some constabularies.

She said: “There is often a lot of ignorance we find, particularly in certain rural areas, they think they don’t have human trafficking.

“It’s a bit like with drug problems, if you don’t lift the lid, you don’t have a drug problem. You have to look for it to find it. It’s not something that pops up openly. A lot of forces don’t want to go down that direction - or don’t even recognise it as a crime.”

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Radical change, including amending the 2015 Act to lower the threshold of what constitutes modern slavery and better recognise non-violent means of coercion, is needed to improve things, she added.

Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner Dame Sara Thornton said the current lack of risk to criminals “fails to counter the economic reward of trafficking in people, or prevent organised crime groups acting with impunity”.

She called on police to “take advantage of the full spectrum of evidential opportunities to reduce reliance” on victims’ testimony, adding prosecutions should be “victim focused but not victim reliant”.

Responding to the figures, the National Police Chiefs’ Council said it recognised charges and referrals to the Crown Prosecution Service had not kept pace with the increase in crimes.

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Sheon Sturland, head of the NPCC modern slavery and organised immigration crime unit, added: “Police are identifying more victims of modern slavery than ever, ensuring they get the support they need and exploitation is stopped.”

Safeguarding Minister Victoria Atkins said the Home Office has allocated £2 million to support police with modern slavery work this year and has invested £11.3 million over the past three years into the Modern Slavery Transformation Programme to boost prosecutions.