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

Joint Briefing: draft Slavery and Human Trafficking (Definition of Victim) Regulations

The government’s new draft Slavery and Human Trafficking (Definition of Victim) Regulations narrow the definition of a victim of trafficking and modern slavery, reducing the chances that victims will be identified. They were introduced without consulting anti-trafficking organisations and they could have far-reaching and damaging consequences for victims of trafficking and modern slavery. This new joint briefing presents our concerns about the regulations and recommendations to improve them.
ECPAT UK signs joint letter to Home Office about Rwanda policy's impact on children

ECPAT UK has joined 16 other organisations and experts in writing to the Home Office about their policy of flying people seeking asylum in the UK to Rwanda, and how the scheme is impacting children.
BIG GIVE week 2022: Thank you for your support!

In June 2022 ECPAT UK partnered with the Big Give and The Childhood Trust to take part in the Champions for Children matched fundraising event! Between 14th-21st June 2022, every single donation we received was doubled by The Childhood Trust and our generous pledger funders!
RMCC briefing on government plans to send people seeking asylum to Rwanda

The Refugee and Migrant Children’s Consortium, a coalition of over 60 organisations (including ECPAT UK), has produced this briefing outlining how the government's plan to remove people seeking asylum in the UK to Rwanda could impact children, and how to protect age-disputed young people from relocation under the scheme.

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.
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?
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.
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.