Guidance (England)

View key statutory guidance and strategy on safeguarding unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children and child victims of modern slavery.

Criminal Exploitation of children and vulnerable adults: County Lines guidance

National Transfer Scheme Protocol for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (March 2018)

Safeguarding strategy for unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children (November 2017)

Statutory guidance for the care of unaccompanied migrant children and child victims of modern slavery (November 2017)

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Statutory guidance for the care of unaccompanied migrant children and child victims of modern slavery (March 2017)

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Safeguarding children who may have been trafficked: Practice guidance (2011)

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Family and Friends Care: Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities (2011)

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National Referral Mechanism: Guidance for child first responders (2016)

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National Referral Mechanism

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Working Together to Safeguard Children (2018)

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London Safeguarding Trafficked Children Toolkit (2011)

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London Safeguarding Trafficked Children Guidance (2011)

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Unaccompanied asylum seeking children: interim national transfer scheme (2016)

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Guidance on processing children's asylum claims (2017)

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London Child Protection Procedures and Practice Guidance (2017)

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CPS policy for prosecuting cases of human trafficking (2011)

Download the CPS policy for prosecuting cases of human trafficking

Statutory guidance on children who run away or go missing from home or care (2014)

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Children missing education: Statutory guidance for local authorities (2016)

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Statutory guidance on roles and responsibilities when a child goes missing from home or care (2014)

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ADCS Age Assessment Guidance (2015)

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Child Sexual Exploitation: Definition and guide for practitioners (2017)

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Notifications of private fostering arrangements in England (2015)

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Victims of Modern Slavery: Guidance for frontline staff (2016)

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Victims of Modern Slavery: Competent Authority Guidance (2016)

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Human trafficking practical guidance (2013)

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Human trafficking, smuggling and slavery

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Modern slavery: A council guide (2017)

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A typology of modern slavery offences in the UK (2017)

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Modern slavery awareness and victim identification guidance (2017)

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Transparency in supply chains: A practical guide (2017)

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Image credit: By Berit from Redhill/Surrey, UK (House of Common, London) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Latest

Nationality and Borders Bill: House of Lords Second Reading Briefing

The Nationality and Borders Bill has its Second Reading in the House of Lords on 5th January 2022. The Bill includes far reaching reforms to modern slavery legislation; extensively changing the system for identifying, protecting and supporting victims of trafficking. This briefing sets out our concerns about the impact on children and young people and the lack of consideration of their needs and rights.
Child trafficking in the UK 2021: a snapshot

Our latest snapshot report on child trafficking has been produced jointly with the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Dame Sara Thornton. Child trafficking remains a significant and growing problem in the UK and the report provides an overview including the latest data, policy developments, examples of promising practice and challenges faced by practitioners. It concludes with a series of 10 recommendations.
IASC and ECPAT UK report on child trafficking in the UK in 2021

The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and ECPAT UK have today launched Child trafficking in the UK: a snapshot. The report provides an outline of child trafficking between October 2020 and October 2021, including the latest data, policy developments, examples of promising practice and challenges faced by practitioners. It concludes with a series of 10 recommendations aimed at a range of stakeholders.
Global Call for Evidence

This Global Call for Evidence is part of our study being conducted jointly with the University of Bedfordshire funded through the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre (Modern Slavery PEC). The study seeks to identify ways to improve outcomes for young people who have experienced human trafficking and/or modern slavery.

Guidance (Wales)

View key statutory guidance and strategy documents on safeguarding and care of unaccompanied migrant or refugee children and child victims of modern slavery.
Guidance (Scotland)

View key statutory guidance and strategy documents on safeguarding and care of unaccompanied migrant or refugee children and child victims of modern slavery.
Guidance (Northern Ireland)

View key statutory guidance and strategy documents on safeguarding and care of unaccompanied migrant or refugee children and child victims of modern slavery.

Child trafficking statistics

The latest data on the number of victims of trafficking in the UK and worldwide.
The Secret Gardeners: New film on child trafficking from Vietnam

The Secret Gardeners aims to inform professionals about the plight of children who are forced by organised crime gangs to grow drugs in houses across the UK but who often face criminalisation and prison.
Volunteer

ECPAT UK relies on committed volunteers to support the work that we do. Without their help, we would not be able to campaign as effectively against child exploitation.
Demand specialist support for trafficked children

In 2018 we worked with Care2 to call on the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid MP, to overhaul the current system of identification and support for victims of trafficking – the National Referral Mechanism (NRM).
Urgent action needed: Independent guardianship for all trafficked, unaccompanied and separated children

Last October, an incredible 120,535 supporters called for specialist support for all trafficked children. However, the fight is not finished. Make sure your voice is heard by contacting the Home Secretary asking him to provide guardianship for all trafficked, separated and unaccompanied children
Our team

ECPAT UK's team has more than 30 years' experience working on issues of child trafficking, child protection, child sexual exploitation, unaccompanied children, modern slavery and more.
Before the Harm is Done: Examining the UK's response to the prevention of trafficking

The UK Government is failing to protect thousands of children from exploitation by lacking a plan to prevent child trafficking, according to a new report by the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group (ATMG), a coalition of twelve UK-based charities, including ECPAT UK. The report Before the Harm is Done, stresses that the UK has no specific strategy in relation to preventing trafficking in children, putting thousands of children at risk.
National Referral Mechanism

The National Referral Mechanism is a process set up by the Government to identify and support victims of trafficking in the UK. It was born out of the Government's obligation to identify victims under the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Human Trafficking, which came into force on 1 February 2008.
What is child trafficking?
Heading back to harm: A study on trafficked and unaccompanied children going missing from care in the UK

Trafficked and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are going missing from UK care at an “alarmingly high” rate, according to a new study by leading charities ECPAT UK and Missing People.