Report details how survivors of trafficking are being criminalised by UK justice and immigration systems

A report published last month by the Helen Bamber Foundation and Asylum Aid says survivors of human trafficking in the UK are being treated as offenders rather than victims, with many facing prosecution for offences linked directly to their exploitation.

The 32-page report, When the law changes sides: the criminalisation of survivors of trafficking in the UK, can be download here.

Drawing on legal analysis, government data, case studies and evidence from organisations working with victims, the report details how protections under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 are frequently unavailable or ineffective.

According to the report, more than 23,000 potential victims of trafficking were referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) in 2025, with criminal exploitation accounting for a significant proportion of cases, particularly among men and boys.

Asylum Aid and the Helen Bamber Foundation highlight that international law recognises that trafficking victims should not be punished for crimes they were compelled to commit. They point to the "non-punishment principle" contained in the Council of Europe's Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings and the statutory defence under Section 45 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

However, the report says that these protections often fail in practice.

It states: "[S]urvivors of trafficking and modern slavery in the UK, who are non-British nationals, can end up criminalised and deprived of the support they need as victims of crime themselves. This often occurs when they are prosecuted for crimes they were compelled to commit as a direct result of their trafficking experience - such as sex work, drug trafficking, theft, or immigration violations. Survivors often come to the attention of authorities primarily as offenders and are too often not recognised as victims of a serious crime themselves. Survivors can also be criminalised for reasons relating to but not caused directly by their exploitation, such as illegal working or the use of false documents after they have escaped their traffickers but been left destitute."

The report says police, prosecutors, defence lawyers and judges often fail to identify indicators of trafficking, while survivors may be unwilling or unable to disclose their experiences because of trauma or fear. In addition, the legal threshold for using the Section 45 defence is high and excludes a number of offences.

Among the case studies highlighted is that of a severely disabled Albanian man who told his solicitor he had been forced to work in a cannabis farm but later pleaded guilty after his account was dismissed.

The report highlights: "His criminal solicitor paid no attention to this and entered a guilty plea on his behalf, later telling the man's immigration lawyer that he did so as it was 'irrelevant'. Whilst the man was in prison Asylum Aid made an NRM referral that resulted in a positive conclusive grounds decision and also found him a new criminal solicitor. Based on that positive decision his criminal solicitor was able to apply to withdraw his guilty plea, and all charges were dropped. However, he had spent over ten months in prison before he was released."

The authors added in a press release: "Our report tells the stories of survivors we have supported who have lived through these systemic failures. It includes a woman imprisoned for using a false passport to escape sexual exploitation, whose conviction was only quashed years later and a woman held in immigration detention for over two years after being convicted for crimes committed under coercion, among others. Time and again, it took exceptional legal representation to secure justice, support that is beyond the reach of many survivors."

As the report also highlights, recent immigration legislation has entrenched and further expanded the criminalisation of survivors. It examines the impact of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, the Illegal Migration Act 2023, the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act 2025 and proposals contained in the new Immigration and Asylum Bill.

It says Public Order Disqualifications (PODs), introduced under the 2022 Act, have resulted in trafficking survivors being excluded from NRM support because of criminal convictions linked to their exploitation. Between January 2023 and December 2025, the report says 763 POD decisions were issued, with 97% based on public order grounds.

Proposals in the Government's new Immigration and Asylum Bill will expand the use of PODs for trafficking survivors with criminal convictions, the report warns. This would make it more difficult for survivors to qualify for an exemption by requiring them to demonstrate they are at "immediate and significant risk" of being trafficked again in the UK.

The report says the Bill's proposals would prevent disqualified individuals from receiving a Conclusive Grounds, effectively doubling-down on a Home Office approach to PODs that has already been found unlawful by the High Court in ABW, R (on the application of) v Secretary Of State for the Home Department [2025] EWHC 3280 (Admin).

Among its recommendations, the report calls on the Government to repeal Section 63 of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 and Section 29 of the Illegal Migration Act 2023, abandon proposed public order disqualification measures in the Immigration and Asylum Bill, publish data on the use of the Section 45 defence, improve training for criminal justice professionals, and expand long-term support and legal protections for confirmed survivors of trafficking.

The report concludes: "If the UK is serious about tackling trafficking and preventing re-exploitation, it must end policies that criminalise victims and instead centre protection, recovery and accountability for perpetrators. This requires the repeal of provisions that disqualify survivors from support; robust and early application of the non-punishment principle; and meaningful investment in training across the criminal justice and immigration systems to ensure trafficking is identified at the earliest possible stage."