On 17th February 2022, we published Home Office data accessed via an FOI request. It reveals that in 2019-2020, only 2% (17 out of 754) of children who were exploited and trafficked to the UK were granted the leave to remain to which they are entitled under international law. ECPAT UK's accompanying briefing looks at the data in the context of the Nationality and Borders Bill, and calls for Clause 64 of the Bill to incorporate specific entitlements for children in line with ECAT and UNCRC. Read more
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. Read more
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. Read more
The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care final report makes 72 recommendations. ECPAT UK's response looks at where the review falls short, and where it puts forward welcome proposals for improving services & protecting children's existing rights to protection and care. Read more
Last week was Mental Health Awareness Week 2022. Here, ECPAT UK reflects on the impact that trafficking and exploitation can have on the mental health of children and young people, and outlines how we can better support child victims to recover from trauma and abuse. Read more
The Queen’s Speech 2022 confirmed that in the new parliamentary session, there will be significant reform affecting the rights of children and young people. On the heels of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, the government has announced more modern slavery legislation. It has affirmed too that the Online Safety Bill is carried over from the last parliamentary session. Also announced was a new Bill of Rights. Read more
Last week, Dame Sara Thornton’s third and final annual report as the UK’s Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner was laid before parliament. ECPAT UK welcomes the report and thanks the Commissioner and her office for all their work over the past three years, especially the focus on child victims and their rights to protection and care. Read more
Following a hard-fought battle to increase rights and protections in the legislation, the Nationality and Borders Act received Royal Assent this week. The Act will have a devastating impact for all trafficked children, and for migrant children who are at high risk of exploitation. Read more
Expert organisations across the anti-slavery and child sectors including Barnardo’s, The Children’s Society, the Coram Children’s Legal Centre and the Helen Bamber Foundation, have written a public letter to Ministers Michael Gove, Priti Patel and Nadhim Zahawi about the need to include protections for children in the Nationality and Borders Bill. Read more
We're delighted to announce that ECPAT UK's Children's Champion award 2022 is now open for nominations! Each year, ECPAT UK recognises someone who has demonstrated outstanding commitment to trafficked children. The winner will be selected in June by our panel of staff, trustees and young people affected by trafficking. Send in your nominations by 17th June! Read more
ECPAT UK (Every Child Protected Against Trafficking UK)'s and Missing People's new report finds that one in three trafficked children went missing from local authority care in 2020, which is a rise of 25% since 2018. Our analysis of data from Freedom of Information requests to local authorities shows that trafficked children who went missing in 2020 had an average of eight missing episodes that year. Read more
Last night’s Nationality and Borders Bill debate at report stage in the House of Lords saw significant wins for children’s rights as peers voted to prioritise child protection and mitigate damaging proposals on modern slavery and assessments of children’s ages in the Bill. Read more
26 European ECPAT members, including ECPAT UK, support this statement calling for the protection of children affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Read more
Figures published by the Home Office in March 2022 show that more potential victims of child trafficking than ever before were identified in the UK last year. Read more
During our Big Give Week, we held a celebratory event: 'It's about family' and we are so grateful to all those who joined us, to the young people who shaped the event and contributed and to artists Nancy Hawa, Safia Lamrani, and Sarah Agha, for sharing their wonderful talents. Read more
ECPAT UK supports the #KeepCaringTo18 campaign because we oppose the creation of a two-tier care system. The recent change in the law discriminates based on age. Children in care aged 15 and under will always have care where they live. But 16 and 17 year-olds haven't been given this same protection and will be left at risk in unregulated accommodation and without care. Read more
Our youth group members enjoyed meeting up for our summer programme of picnics and games and fun activities including a day trip to Thorpe Park, packed with thrilling rides, competitive bumper car racing, and a lot of group bonding. Read more
The government’s new nationality and borders bill will significantly impact children’s rights to protection and leave them at risk of dangerous journeys, trafficking and criminalisation. The legislation does not just contain measures on immigration which fail to protect those in need of safety but also makes extensive changes to the identification, protection and support of victims of trafficking and modern slavery, which is not an immigration matter. Read more
Today, Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly Member Naomi Long has introduced a new bill aiming to improve services for victims of trafficking and exploitation and enhance public safety by updating laws on child sexual offences. ECPAT UK welcomes The Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Bill, which contains a number of provisions to strengthen the response to child sexual exploitation. Read more
The government has announced the launch of a scheme piloting local decision making on children’s status as victims of trafficking. ECPAT UK welcomes the launch of the pilot, which has incorporated a number of our key recommendations. Read more
We're delighted to share the entries to our #HopefulFutures competition and announce our winner, Layla Carruthers, who has won an Instax camera! The competition was launched following a very challenging year for all of us, particularly for young people affected by trafficking. But with an improving picture, hope is on the horizon. While we're all excited to get much of our old lives back, we don’t have to return to how things were. We can call for all young people to have stable futures. Read more
ECPAT UK is delighted to announce the appointment of four new trustees, including new Chair of the Board, Liz Barratt - Joint Head of Immigration at Bindmans. Liz is joined by new trustees Deveena Sahota, Renata de Groot and Geoff Corre and existing trustees Annabel Mullin and Nicky Guy. Read more
This week, the government announced that the Independent Child Trafficking Guardians (ICTG) service has expanded to several new areas and is now accepting referrals in London (in addition to the Borough of Croydon where the service was already available), Essex, West Yorkshire, Merseyside, Kent, Surrey, Warwickshire, Bedfordshire, North Yorkshire, Gloucestershire and Bristol, and Lancashire. However, many young people still lack access to this essential support. Read more
Today’s Queen’s Speech confirmed that in the new parliamentary session, the government will legislate to bring forward the proposals in the New Plan for Immigration as well as the new Online Safety Bill. While we welcome measures to make children safer online, we are extremely concerned about the impact of the immigration proposals on trafficked and unaccompanied children. Read more
The government’s New Plan for Immigration includes proposals which will impact all child victims of trafficking as well as all children and young people subject to immigration control. We're concerned about a range of measures proposed which, taken together, will affect all child victims of trafficking, including British national children. Have your say — respond to the government's public consultation using our guide. Read more
The Home Office has published their ‘New Plan for Immigration’ which includes a significant number of proposals to reform modern slavery legislation which will affect survivors of child exploitation. Wider measures relating to asylum policy will also be detrimental to survivors who also apply for asylum, a procedure which is already very challenging for many child victims to navigate. Read more