‘Cliff-edge drop’ in support after 45 days to be replaced by system tailored to individual needs

The Home Office has withdrawn a “nonsensical” policy that cuts off all support to modern slavery survivors after six weeks and will instead introduce a system individually tailored to victims’ needs.

The existing policy – which under the Modern Slavery Act provides safe housing, counselling and financial support for up to 45 days to people in the UK who have been formally identified as victims of slavery or trafficking – was suspended in April by a high court judge, who ruled that it risked causing “irreparable harm to very vulnerable individuals”.

“The home secretary’s nonsensical policy on support has finally ended – victims of trafficking and modern slavery will no longer be left at the mercy of the 45-day cliff-edge drop in support,” said Ahmed Aydeed, public law director at Duncan Lewis, the law firm that challenged the Home Office policy.

“It is beyond belief that the home secretary has been applying this policy for years, only now accepting that the law requires a needs-based system. The government has been failing for years in its legal obligation to support victims of trafficking.”

Documents presented to the court and seen by the Guardian show that the Home Office conceded this month that “some aspects of the [current] system are unsatisfactory” and that survivors’ recovery “may vary from individual to individual and cannot be delimited by time alone”.

The changes to the current system came about as a result of a case brought by two victims of trafficking against the Home Office, which argued that cutting off their support after 45 days would leave them open to destitution and re-trafficking.

The first victim, who was trafficked into cannabis cultivation and subsequently criminalised and illegally detained in prison, said that if his support ended after 45 days he would be homeless and unable to attend medical appointments without the backing of a support worker.

The second, an Albanian woman who was trafficked into sexual exploitation, said: “I am scared that I will have a mental breakdown and that will affect my ability to care for my daughter.”

After settling their cases, the Home Office is now formulating a “needs-based system for supporting victims of trafficking” and “has no intention of reapplying the ‘45-day rule’” – or any other time limit on its support, the court documents show.

“This result is a game changer and such an important step in better protecting survivors of slavery,” said Tamara Barnett of the Human Trafficking Foundation.

“For years the UK’s referral mechanism has rescued survivors only to throw them out of support, once they are conclusively recognised as trafficked, after an arbitrary and short period of time. As a result we have heard horrific stories of many victims, particularly male victims, ending up destitute and then being re-trafficked. Now they will not be forced out of support if they are not yet ready.”

Assistance is crucial to keeping survivors protected from ending up homeless, jobless and vulnerable to being exploited again, according to research published last week by Unseen, the anti-slavery charity behind the modern slavery helpline.

The Home Office has indicated it will now require the assistance of “expert stakeholders” in tailoring individual care to slavery survivors, said Barnett, among them the Human Trafficking Foundation.

“We also need to ensure an effective needs assessment is made before support is ended,” she said. “Another concern is that this doesn’t lead to unintended consequences – such as the government giving out less initial ‘reasonable grounds’ decisions [stating that the person is likely to have been trafficked] to victims, preventing them even entering government support, to keep costs down.”

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Kate Garbers, of Unseen, said that the changes were welcomed by survivors and added: “In order to design this system and implement it effectively, collaboration between civil society and a range of government departments will be required. Survivor voices must be heard and their needs must be fully understood.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The government is committed to stamping out modern slavery and providing victims with the support they need to begin rebuilding their lives.

“We are always building our understanding of the complex needs of victims of modern slavery and striving to improve the support available.

“We have already significantly increased support for victims earlier this year, and we will continue to drive improvements to the services available to ensure they are meeting the recovery needs of victims.”