Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether potential victims of (a) trafficking or (b) modern slavery who were in the National Referral Mechanism before November 2019 (a) were offered and (b) received subsistence payments.

In reference to your first question, the rates for financial support are set out in the Victim Care Contract (VCC) and Modern Slavery Act 2015: Statutory Guidance for England and Wales. These rates have not been adjusted for inflation, however, they are kept under review. The Home Office is currently working towards a new financial support policy that will focus on individual victims’ needs.

In reference to your second question, there is no distinction made between victims of trafficking and modern slavery in relation to support provided by the VCC. The current VCC has been operational since 2015; providing support to individuals who have been referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), have received a positive reasonable grounds decision and have consented to support. The VCC provides support through accommodation (where needed), financial support and specialist support workers.

We are aware that some individuals may have received incorrect financial support payments during their time in VCC support until 30 November 2019. Financial support payments may have been reduced as a result of them receiving alternative sources of income, in a way that was not in line with published policy or with the wording of the VCC. We are working at pace to establish who may have been affected. We will communicate further details on how we plan to rectify this issue in the coming weeks.

In reference to your third question, the data requested on how many and what proportion of people in the NRM from April 2019 to March 2020 are receiving subsistence payments does not currently form part of the published NRM statistics. The Home Office published quarterly statistics regarding the NRM which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-referral-mechanism-statistics.