UK Modern Slavery Referrals Reach Record 23,000 in 2025, Up 22%

The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner released a report on Monday revealing that over 23,000 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the organization in 2025. This figure marks a 22 percent increase from the previous year and stands as the highest number ever recorded.

More than a fifth of these potential victims were from the UK, while 13 percent originated from Eritrea and 9 percent from Vietnam.

Sexual exploitation of girls in Britain has risen 54 percent over the last five years, according to the report. It identified hidden-economy labour exploitation as a key risk, with a particular focus on UK nail bars linked to organised criminal gangs in Vietnam.

The document also noted that artificial intelligence and digital platforms have become tools for criminal trafficking gangs, enabling exploitation through online grooming and pop-up brothels.

Eleanor Lyons, appointed as Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner in October 2023, said the report highlighted how exploitation is increasingly affecting people within the UK. Lyons further stated that the UK's response is not keeping pace with the scale and complexity of the threat, calling for mitigations across government bodies including the Foreign Office, Home Office, Police, Ministry of Justice, and HMRC.

The report pointed to economic pressures such as rising living costs, debt, and insecure work as factors driving people into modern slavery.

It presented scenarios where exploitation could adapt into harder-to-detect spaces, emphasizing that investing more in law enforcement alone is insufficient and that wider cultural change is needed. The report proposes measures like additional funding and training for specialist police units and fines for businesses breaching anti-exploitation rules.