New research report reveals the alarming reality of child modern slavery in the UK and calls for urgent action to protect children and young people. Read more
New data obtained via a Freedom of Information (FOI) request shows that 45 unaccompanied children in the UK went missing in between June 2021 and March 2022 after the Home Secretary unlawfully placed them in Home Office-led hotel accommodation. Read more
A new report from ECPAT UK and Missing People reveals significant issues with child victims of trafficking and unaccompanied children going missing from care. Read more
This report highlights how overlaps and gaps in terminology, and how they have created confusion and definitional instabilitythat hinders effective identification and intervention. These inconsistencies impact frontline practice, from safeguarding to policing and prosecution, resulting in missed opportunities to protect children from harm. Read more
A new report from ECPAT UK and the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner reveals the UK is failing to protect trafficked children, with systemic barriers preventing them from receiving the care and justice they deserve. Despite a 138% rise in child trafficking cases over five years and British children accounting for 78% of referrals to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) in 2023, critical legal and policy gaps persist. Read more
New report by University of College London (UCL) and ECPAT UK aimed to investigate the risks of trafficking and exploitation in Home Office child hotels among unaccompanied children seeking asylum in the UK. Researchers interviewed young people themselves as well as professionals such as social workers, policy stakeholders, academics, lawyers, law enforcement, support workers, and NGO staff. Read more
This interim report summarises the main findings from a participatory research study based on the voices of young people who have experience of modern slavery, aiming to understand what positive outcomes for these young people would look like. The research was led by the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University, the University of Bedfordshire’s Institute of Applied Social Research, in partnership with ECPAT UK. Read more
'When Harm Remains: an update report on trafficked and unaccompanied children going missing from care in the UK' follows up on ECPAT UK’s and Missing People’s first study, 'Heading Back to Harm' (which discovered that an alarmingly high number of children go missing from care with many never being found), and our second study, 'Still in Harm’s Way', which confirmed the findings that trafficked and unaccompanied children are amongst those at greatest risk of going missing in the UK. Read more
Our latest snapshot report on child trafficking has been produced jointly with the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Dame Sara Thornton. Child trafficking remains a significant and growing problem in the UK and the report provides an overview including the latest data, policy developments, examples of promising practice and challenges faced by practitioners. It concludes with a series of 10 recommendations. Read more
ECPAT UK's latest snapshot report on child trafficking in the UK provides an overview of the issues affecting children, including inadequate support provision and long term instability. The report highlights never seen before data on immigration outcomes for child victims, secured through Freedom of Information Act requests to the Home Office. Read more
ECPAT UK and the Office of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner have produced a review into models of multi-agency decision making in the UK. A review of what works in multi-agency decision making and the implications for child victims of trafficking makes recommendations for best practice in multi-agency decision making for child victims of trafficking, including potential future devolved decision-making in the National Referral Mechanism. Read more
As part of our Safeguarding Migrant Children Across Europe (AMINA) project, ECPAT UK and Missing Children Europe's new report 'Interact: Towards a more efficient cooperation across borders for the protection of children in migration from trafficking and exploitation' identifies gaps in child protections and makes recommendations to ensure children are safeguarded. Read more
This report from the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group (ATMG), Real People, Real lives: Ten years of advocacy for victims of slavery in the UK, tells the story of how and why the ATMG was formed, and aims to illustrate the coalition as a model for good practice in holding governments around the world to account through ‘critical friendship’. Read more
Child trafficking is a complex phenomenon. We created our FAQs on child trafficking resource to answer some of the most commonly asked questions in our daily interactions with child protection professionals and members of the public. Read more
New research by ECPAT UK, Anti-Slavery International and Pacific Links Foundation traces the journeys made by Vietnamese children and adults migrating irregularly from Vietnam to the UK via Europe. The report, Precarious Journeys: Mapping Vulnerabilities of Victims of Trafficking from Vietnam to Europe, finds that the governments of countries on key trafficking routes routinely fail to protect Vietnamese children from trafficking, leaving them vulnerable to continued exploitation and abuse. Read more
Following our ground-breaking 2016 research, leading charities ECPAT UK and Missing People have revisited the issue of trafficked and unaccompanied children going missing from care using 2017. Still in Harm's Way: An update report on trafficked and unaccompanied children going missing from care in the UK finds that these children are still going missing at an alarmingly high rate. Read more
The UK Government is failing to protect thousands of children from exploitation by lacking a plan to prevent child trafficking, according to a new report by the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group (ATMG), a coalition of twelve UK-based charities, including ECPAT UK. The report Before the Harm is Done, stresses that the UK has no specific strategy in relation to preventing trafficking in children, putting thousands of children at risk. Read more
ECPAT UK's new snapshot report provides an overview of the state of modern slavery affecting children in the UK, drawing on our experience of working with young people who have been exploited, and compiling the latest statistics and recent policy developments on this important issue. Read more
Time to transform shows the results of ECPAT UK's survey into frontline professionals’ attitudes towards the National Referral Mechanism, specifically in regard to children’s cases. Read more
The second report for the ReACT project provides guidance for professionals on how to improve the identification and protection of children who may have been trafficked. Read more
This report for the ReACT project provides a snapshot of the manner in which children who may have been trafficked into and within five EU states were or were not identified and protected in and up to 2016. Read more
Trafficked and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are going missing from UK care at an “alarmingly high” rate, according to a new study by leading charities ECPAT UK and Missing People. Read more
Has new anti-slavery legislation across the UK increased prosecution of traffickers, prevented further trafficking and enhanced the protection of victims? Read more