The number of potential modern slavery victims in Britain rose to a record last year, official statistics showed on Thursday, highlighting a growing crime that experts say requires the government to undertake urgent policy reforms.
Home Office figures showed there were 19,125 referrals of potential victims into the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) — Britain’s system for identifying and protecting victims — in 2024, surpassing the 2023 record of around 17,000.
