29 April 2026

A consortium of leading anti-slavery organisations including Hestia has warned that the UK is enabling a ‘low risk, high reward’ environment for traffickers and exploiters, and has set out a detailed 10-year plan for change.

The report, ‘Decade of dignity, a strategic vision for eradicating modern slavery in the UK’, published in April 2026, argues that despite the landmark Modern Slavery Act of 2015, the government's response has deteriorated.

Weak enforcement, fragmented policing, ineffective business regulation, and immigration policies that obstruct support for victims have together allowed criminal networks to flourish while leaving survivors without adequate help.

Despite the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the report finds that the UK’s response has faltered due to weak enforcement, fragmented policing, ineffective business regulation, and policies that restrict support for survivors.

Four priorities for a decade of action

The report outlines four key priorities for reform:

• Stronger corporate accountability: introduce a new law within two years to replace Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act with legally binding duties on businesses, including mandatory human rights due diligence, bans on goods linked to forced labour, and penalties for non-compliance.
• A tougher criminal justice response: make modern slavery a core policing priority, with sustained investment in specialist teams, financial investigations, and advanced data to disrupt criminal networks.
• A survivor-centred system: reform support to provide long-term, needs-based care for survivors, removing legal and policy barriers to recovery, and ensuring access to safe housing and legal advice.
• A national strategy for child exploitation: create a UK-wide, cross-government strategy to replace fragmented approaches, with a unified framework grounded in children’s rights.

Together, these reforms aim to dismantle criminal networks, prevent exploitation, and ensure survivors can rebuild their lives with dignity.

Survivors at the heart of reform

The report emphasises that people with lived experience must play a central role in shaping policy, moving beyond consultation to meaningful co-production.

It argues that embedding survivor expertise will lead to more effective interventions, reduce re-exploitation, and deliver better long-term outcomes. It will also strengthen trust in authorities, encouraging more survivors to come forward and engage with services and the criminal justice system.

One of the survivors involved in the report said: “We are putting out a message in the report that the government should think about a long-term and lifelong support strategies for survivors, currently it seems like the focus and support structure within the National Referral Mechanism (the government framework for identifying and supporting victims of modern slavery) is focused only on immediate and medium-term support for victims.” 

Eleanor Lyons, the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, welcomed the report. “The rising number of people identified as victims of modern slavery in the UK underscores the urgency of this moment and the need for decisive government action,” she said.

“This report is a powerful cross-sector call to action, and its priorities reflect what I am consistently hearing across the system – from survivors, frontline professionals, and law enforcement alike.”

Alison Logier, Director of Modern Slavery at Hestia said: “At Hestia, we see every day both the extraordinary resilience of survivors and the systemic barriers that too often stand in their way. Our Underground Lives 2025 research highlights a clear and growing consensus: once someone is recognised as a victim of modern slavery, they must be given the stability, time, and specialist support needed to genuinely rebuild their life. Yet too many people are still navigating uncertainty within the system, facing short-term support and inconsistent pathways to recovery.

This report sets out a vital opportunity to change that. A ‘decade of dignity’ means creating a system that moves beyond crisis response and instead provides long-term, trauma-informed support that enables survivors to live independently, contribute to their communities, and thrive. With the right leadership, we can replace uncertainty with stability and ensure every survivor has the chance not just to recover, but to build a future defined by safety, purpose, and hope.

Hestia is proud to have contributed to this ambitious plan and to co-lead the Adult Survivor chapter. We have worked alongside survivors at every stage, and we are calling for their lived experience to be embedded meaningfully in the delivery of this strategy.”

Read report

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