Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery: Call for Evidence

Jess Phillips Excerpts

Tuesday 24th February 2026 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Jess Phillips)]

On 16 July 2025, I announced a public call for evidence on identification of victims of modern slavery. The goal of this call for evidence was to hear views from stakeholders on the definitions of a victim of modern slavery, identification and decision-making processes, and futureproofing the modern slavery system.

Today, I am pleased to publish the report on the summary of responses. The call for evidence closed on 8 October 2025, and the Home Office received 119 responses from those with an interest and experience in modern slavery, including people with lived experience of modern slavery, non-governmental and civil society organisations, local authorities, academics, law enforcement, first responders, parliamentarians, and members of the public. We also ran a series of 10 stakeholder engagement workshops with NGOs, local and devolved governments, first responders, law enforcement, statutory partners, and academics. I greatly appreciate all the responses we received.

Over the coming months, we will carefully consider the evidence received to inform further legislative and policy development to ensure the effectiveness of the system for identifying victims of modern slavery. This includes commitments made to reform the modern slavery system set out in the statement on restoring order and control: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asylum-and-returns-policy-statement/restoring-order-and-control-a-statement-on-the-governments-asylum-and-returns-policy

A copy of the summary of responses report will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses and published on gov.uk.

[HCWS1351]