CYP Now - Review highlights best practice in supporting child slavery victims

A review of practices and procedures for protecting child victims of modern slavery has set out a series of recommendations for developing effective multi-agency decision-making processes.

There were 4,550 children referred into the NRM in 2019. Picture: Morguefile

The review by the independent anti-slavery commissioner, Dame Sara Thornton, has been produced in partnership with ECPAT UK.

It examined four of the most commonly-used multi-agency decision making frameworks to help inform future thinking on potential pilots for devolved National Referral Mechanism (NRM) decision making for child victims of trafficking.

The NRM is the UK’s framework for identifying and supporting victims of modern slavery. It was introduced in 2009. Children referred to it receive safeguarding support under local safeguarding arrangements, although there have been previous concerns that the process is bureaucratic and needs speeding up.

The Home Office is considering a pilot to test approaches to devolve NRM decision making for children to local authorities and local safeguarding partnerships.

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