Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of reduced waiting times for conclusive grounds decisions in the National Referral Mechanism on modern slavery victims' recovery and access to support services.

This government is proud of our record to reduce the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) backlog and ensure victims of modern slavery receive certainty in a timely fashion. There has been a decrease to the backlog of 84% since the peak in 2022.

Adult victims receive support through the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract (MSVCC) and through wider state services. Victims supported by the MSVCC will currently continue to receive support following a positive Conclusive Grounds decision where needs are identified through the Recovery Needs Assessment process. There is no overall limit on time in support.

The new Support for Victims of Modern Slavery contract (due to come into force in 2027) will further improve the needs-based support for adults.

Victims who receive a negative Conclusive Grounds decision will continue to be provided with up to 14 working days of move-on support from the date of receipt of the decision.

Child victims are supported through a range of systems, including statutory local authority support and the Government-funded Independent Child Trafficking Guardian (ICTG) service. ICTGs are currently available in two-thirds of Local Authorities, but from Spring 2027 they will be nationally available across England and Wales. There is no time limit on support provided to children and ICTG support will cease once the child has met one of the exit criteria set out within ICTG Interim Guidance.