Modern slavery at record levels in UK and expected to worsen, report warns

Key Points:

• The UK is experiencing record levels of modern slavery, with referrals to the national referral mechanism nearly doubling from 12,691 in 2021 to 23,411 in 2025, driven by worsening global and domestic conditions.
• Eleanor Lyons, the independent anti-slavery commissioner, warns that factors such as poverty, global instability, and the breakdown of safe migration routes are increasing vulnerability to trafficking, which is expected to worsen over the next decade.
• The report highlights emerging threats including the use of AI to scale exploitation, digital labor scams, cryptocurrency integration in trafficking, gig economy abuses, coercive labor, and reproductive slavery.
• Lyons calls for increased funding for specialist police units, stronger prosecution of exploitative businesses, a national public awareness campaign, and improved victim care to counter increasingly sophisticated criminal networks.
• A separate Council of Europe report commends UK efforts but urges further legal and policy reforms, enhanced coordination, and more resources to better protect vulnerable groups and align with international anti-trafficking standards.