Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much the Home Office spent on employing caseworkers to make conclusive grounds decisions in the National Referral Mechanism in financial years (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21, (c) 2021-22 and (d) 2022-23 to date.

The Single Competent Authority (SCA) and the Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority (IECA) are currently recruiting a large number of new decision makers across the UK to increase capacity for NRM decision-making and reduce decision making timescales.

The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) does not publish payments made to victims of modern slavery and this does not currently form part of the published NRM statistics.

All victims who consent to receiving support will receive this via the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (MSVCC) in England and Wales which is delivered by The Salvation Army. Details of the MSVC Contract can be found in a redacted version of the contract requirements here: Modern Slavery: Statutory Guidance for England and Wales (under s49 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015) and Non-Statutory Guidance for Scotland and Northern Ireland (publishing.service.gov.uk)

All victims who consented to support under the previous Victim Care Contract are eligible for financial support under the same policy and a redacted version of the previous contract requirements can be found here (https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/e03ceb15-27ad-4bad-b8ae-43dbc1e9481e).

As of September 2019, following a CG decision, financial support needs for those in support are considered in a Recovery Needs Assessment (RNA) as part of a holistic assessment of recovery need, as per the published RNA policy.”