Rebel Justice

99. Modern Slavery in the UK: What You Need to Know with Lauren Saunders from Unseen UK

• Rebel Justice - The View Magazine • Episode 99

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Modern slavery isn’t far away or long ago. It’s here, woven into daily life, and too often dismissed as something else. We sit down with Lauren Saunders, Deputy Director of Frontline Services at Unseen, to uncover how exploitation hides in UK homes, care settings, nail bars, construction sites and supply chains—and what it takes to bring people to safety and hold perpetrators to account.

Lauren explains what modern slavery looks like today, from forced labour and domestic servitude to sexual and criminal exploitation, and clarifies the difference between trafficking and smuggling. We dig into red flags the public can spot, why victims may not recognise their exploitation, and how a culture of belief shapes better policing and prosecutions. We also connect the dots between consumer choices and forced labour, exploring how complex supply chains in agriculture, hospitality and construction can mask abuse. If you’ve ever wondered what to do when something feels wrong, this conversation gives you clear steps, useful resources and the conviction to act.


Unseen's Christmas Big Give appeal: https://www.unseenuk.org/one-call-can-change-a-life-support-unseens-helpline-this-christmas/

Unseen's website: https://www.unseenuk.org/

Credits

Guest: Lauren Saunders

Producer: Charlotte Janes

Soundtrack: Particles (Revo Main Version) by [Coma-Media] 

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Host:

You're listening to Rebel Justice, the podcast from The View magazine. When we think about justice, we think about it as an abstract. Something that happens to someone else, somewhere else. But justice and the law regulate every aspect of our interactions with each other, with organizations, and with the government. We never think about it until it impacts our lives or those of someone close. Our guests are women with lived experience of the justice system. Whether as victims or women who have committed crimes, people at the forefront of civic action who put their lives on the line to demand a better world. We ask them to share their insight into how we might repair a broken and harmful system with humanity and dignity. We also speak with people who are in the heart of the justice system, creating important change. Judges, barristers, human rights campaigners, mental health advocates, artists, and healers. Modern slavery is often spoken about as though it's a distant problem, something from history, or hidden in far-off places. But the reality is far closer to home. Here in the UK, modern slavery is not only present, but it is growing. Last year alone, more than 19,000 potential victims were referred to the Home Office, the highest number on record, and a 13% increase on the previous year. Estimates suggest the true number could exceed 100,000 people, many of whom will never come forward. They are exploited in fields, in homes, in nail bars, in construction sites, in supply chains, and in the very communities that we move through every day. Today's conversation is about the organization that has spent more than fifteen years pulling this hidden crime into the light. Unseen, one of the UK's leading charities tackling modern slavery and supporting survivors. Unseen was founded in 2008 by Andrew Wallace and Kate Garbers, two friends who, through very different experiences, reached the same realization that something urgent needed to be done. For Andrew, the catalyst was a colleague returning from Ukraine with a story that exposed the raw reality of trafficking. A woman who thought she was travelling to a new job in the US only to find herself in the hands of traffickers. For Kate, it was her own encounters with child trafficking in Ukrainian orphanages while volunteering. And then came the third piece. An article revealing that traffickers were funneling people through the UK regional airport to avoid detection. Those reds connected, and Andrew's questions to local leaders were met with a challenge from the police. If you want things to change, don't just write a letter. Do something. And so Unseen was born with a mission that was both immediate and ambitious to provide safety for survivors and work to end modern slavery altogether. From the first safe house in 2011, Unseen's work has grown into a nationwide force. They helped establish the UK's first anti-slavery partnership in 2009. They chaired the landmark It Happens Here investigation that led directly to the Modern Slavery Act in 2015, a piece of legislation that captured global attention. They co-founded the Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline in 2016, a service that has now been contacted almost 50,000 times, identifying more than 30,000 potential victims and providing guidance to the public, frontline workers, businesses and survivors themselves. And this matters because behind every statistic is a person whose life has been irrevocably altered by exploitation. People like Khadija, who spent more than a decade in domestic servitude, unpaid, abused, and trapped by the lie that she owed a debt for being brought to the UK that when she escaped, she had nowhere to go and no one to trust. It wasn't until a charity worker connected her with Unseen's helpline that things finally changed. The helpline advisor didn't just give her information, they advocated for her in real time, guided her to safety, and helped secure a place for her in a safe house. It was a moment that transformed her life. In 2024 alone, Unseen supported more than 300 survivors through safe housing and tailored outreach. Their safe houses offered sanctuary to people from 25 different nationalities, each navigating trauma, health challenges, legal obstacles, and the long road to rebuilding their lives. Their outreach team supported nearly 300 more survivors living in the community, helping them access health care, secure legal protection, find stable housing, and move towards independence. But Unseen's mission goes beyond crisis response. They work with businesses from retail to construction to global brands like Booking.com and Santander to help ensure supply chains are ethical and exploitation is identified early. They lead major campaigns from the award-winning Beyond the Shadows film on labour exploitation and construction to the Let's Nail It campaign exposing exploitation and nail bars to initiatives tackling county lines exploitation amongst young people. And they've remained at the forefront during global emergencies, including the Ukraine war, ensuring the 1.5 million Ukrainians arriving in Europe had access to vital information to keep them safe from traffickers. Yet despite all of this progress, the UK is at a crossroads. Previous government legislation, including the Nationality and Borders Act and the Illegal Migration Act, has eroded vital protections for trafficking victims, making it harder for survivors to be identified and easier for traffickers to operate unchecked. Conviction rates remain low. Sentences often don't reflect the severity of the crime, and the UK's once strong reputation as a global leader in anti-monoslavery efforts has weakened. Unseen is part of the urgent call for change, urging policymakers to reverse harmful legislation, strengthen protections and put survivors at the centre of national strategy. Because at the heart of this issue are human beings, people who are deceived, coerced, threatened or trapped and who deserve safety, justice, and the chance to rebuild. Today, we're talking with Lauren Saunders, Unseen's Deputy Director of Frontline Services.

Lauren Saunders:

So I'm Lauren, I'm Deputy Director of Frontline Services at Unseen. Unseen is a modern slavery charity. We focus on a kind of a number of areas from prevention of modern slavery occurring, identifying it when it does, and then helping people to respond to it. I've worked with survivors of modern slavery for nearly 10 years now in various different forms within our safe houses, unseen safe houses for men and women, as well as in the community, as well as through policy and research work where we really utilize experiences from those who've who are survivors of modern slavery and want to use their voice and their experience to try and prevent it happening from other people.

Host:

Thank you. And then so maybe for listeners who are newer to this topic, what is modern slavery and how does unseen define it?

Lauren Saunders:

So modern slavery is quite a broad umbrella term. In terms of what it is, it's a crime that largely focuses on human rights elements, but it's also an economic crime. So it um exploiters will find vulnerable individuals in which they can exploit to gain from them in some way. So sometimes that's financial gain, sometimes it's sexual gratification and other means to exploit an individual to for the purposes of gain. So that's the kind of summary to thank you.

Host:

And then um many people perhaps associate slavery with history books or faraway countries. Can you maybe help us understand what modern slavery looks like in the UK?

Lauren Saunders:

So modern slavery today encompasses a number of different areas. The first one being forced labour. So this is where people are forced to work for maybe really long hours with little pay, poor conditions, and they may not have employment rights or any of the kind of usual practices that most people would expect of a job. They could be forced to do that because they come from a low financial position, or they might have an existing vulnerability that means that they're just desperate for a job, and an exploiter can manipulate them and force them to work in an unsafe place. Another area is domestic servitude where individuals are forced to work within often a family home or a private setting, maybe doing cooking and cleaning, looking after children but not receiving any pay, not able to leave that property, not able to access an education or anything like that. So they're very much confined to that domestic setting. Sexual exploitation can be where someone is forced to work in prostitution against their will, or forced to engage in kind of online service, adult service content against their will. It can include a number of different factors that may and often comes from a vulnerability existing prior to that as well. Criminal exploitation. Sometimes people are forced to grow cannabis in cannabis farms or maybe forced to move drugs from one place to another. That's often called county lines. And then the final one is organ harvesting or the exploitation of body. So we've seen in 2023 our helpline received the first calls of forced surrogacy, which would fall under the umbrella term of exploitation.

Host:

Thank you. And then perhaps the public perception is maybe thinking this is something that happens elsewhere. What are the kind of other biggest myths or misconceptions about modern slavery that you encounter?

Lauren Saunders:

So modern slavery is a very hidden crime, but it happens everywhere. And I think often people confuse the human trafficking element with human smuggling, which are two different things. Human trafficking has that means to exploit someone, that purpose for someone else to gain from that individual. But the trafficking, the movement, doesn't have to come overseas, it doesn't have to cross a border, it can be from one house to another in the same street, for example. So it's that forced movement with that purpose for someone else to gain from that individual and to exploit them. In terms of how prevalent it is, there are mass numbers of victims who come forward about modern slavery but often aren't believed. Many victims of modern slavery don't themselves know that that's what they've been through because there is a wide-scale misunderstanding of what modern slavery is. So if the victims aren't aware that they are exploited, it's very hard to detect it because they won't necessarily be able to come forward with that straight away. So it's up to the professionals working with them and members of the public to be vigilant to signs of modern slavery so that they can see okay, that person might be presenting in a certain way. That could be an indicator that something's going on for them, and then step in and help that individual. Um, because yeah, people will often not be in exploitation for years because they won't necessarily have been detected.

Host:

And then maybe what are some of the warning signs that someone might be a victim of one slavery or exploitation?

Lauren Saunders:

There are a number of warning signs or indicators of modern slavery, and quite often there'll be a number that once in isolation, those things don't necessarily mean they're modern slavery, but when you put them together and you you dig a little bit bit deeper and understanding it appears that way. Um so an example could be someone in a forced labour environment not wearing any PPE protective equipment because their employer is engaging in non-safe practices. Um, so an individual working on maybe a construction site might not be wearing the relevant equipment for that type of role. An example of sexual exploitation could be someone presenting in a doctor's surgery or any with indicators of rape or physical abuse, and they might be seen that way, but they might not necessarily know that this is a recurring event and what's happening on a kind of a longer term basis. Um, domestic servitude is very, very hard to detect because it happens in private settings. So if there's someone within a house that you often don't see leave, that could be an indication that they they're unable to leave against their free will. Or um criminal exploitation, someone who is engaging in criminal activity but doesn't seem to know anything about um who brought them there or what they're doing or um the the kind of the impact of what they're doing. So it's really kind of about looking for warning signs, looking for that weird um sort of thing that makes your gut a little bit think, hmm, not sure what's happening there, and then digging deeper and asking those questions, looking for signs of physical abuse, looking for signs of fear, looking for signs of um just that vulnerability that means that they're vulnerable to another individual.

Host:

Thank you. And then are there any particular industries or sectors in the UK where exploitation is especially prevalent?

Lauren Saunders:

There is a number of industries where exploitation takes place. Through the modern slavery helpline that we run, we receive calls and contacts from a number of different sectors. The most prevalent in this the last current year was the care sector, but we also saw a number of individuals being exploited through the hospitality sector as well, and they were often on skilled work visas. So really kind of utilising that complex visa process, the exploiter can manipulate an individual who doesn't quite understand that process into um conditions that aren't quite safe. But we've also seen nail bars, car washes, um, private settings, a real kind of broad range of locations that people are exploited in.

Host:

And then maybe given the growth of social media and the internet, do they at all play a role in recruitment or exploitation today?

Lauren Saunders:

Yeah, recruitment can happen in a number of ways. Sometimes it can happen in a private setting. Um, so yeah, online if someone's maybe on social media and then receives messages, that can be one way of doing it. There can also be often false job adverts and false information that's posted online, which is designed to reach a number of people, and then individuals respond to that advert, and then they may uh inadvertently enter into exploitation thinking that they're going into one thing, but actually in reality it's something different. Online exploitation uh recruitment happens, but also it happens in public. I've worked with many survivors over the years who have entered exploitation because they entered into a relationship, they trusted their partner, and then a couple of months down the line, after being in a relationship, that partner has betrayed them. Often this can be if it's a case of overseas human trafficking, going abroad, handing over their passport to get on the plane, um, and then never getting that passport back and then entering into exploitation. We've seen a number of people um within the UK enter exploitation because they've got involved with gangs or they've come from a difficult um grown-up family life and they may be vulnerable to individuals in that space. So, yeah, there's a real kind of a variety of ways that exploiters will recruit individuals.

Host:

Thank you. Then you kind of touched on their specific backgrounds, people that might make them more vulnerable. Are there any specific communities or groups who are typically more vulnerable or targeted?

Lauren Saunders:

I think a vulnerability can come from anywhere. So you could come from a really well-off family, have a kind of high education, but you may go through a family bereavement, and that bereavement could brings on a sense of loss, a sense of isolation, and that isolation can be the vulnerability that a manipulated exploiter will use. So, yeah, it doesn't have to be a specific cohort of individuals. We have supported many people from many different countries, nationalities, backgrounds. UK nationals are very prevalent, um, but it's often not understood that UK nationals experience exploitation and modern slavery as well. So, yeah, there really is a variety of backgrounds. And again, a vulnerability factor could be you've recently lost your job and therefore you've got bills to pay, you've got children to feed, then you could be um that's the vulnerability factor that an exploiter might um target.

Host:

Definitely. So you mentioned earlier uh Andy's modern slavery and exploitation helpline, who can use it and what kind of happens when someone calls?

Lauren Saunders:

So the helpline is available on a daily basis and it's open to anyone who suspects they've seen or witnessed modern slavery. So that could be an individual themselves who might think that they're in a situation and needs help. They can call that helpline and receive immediate support from our trained helpline advisors who can listen to their experience, signpost them to information and local services that might be able to help, or provide them information about their rights and entitlements over the phone. So it very much depends on the individual's needs. We also support members of the public who may not want to report something that they're seeing to the police because there might not seem to be any immediate concerns or immediate danger seen, but then they have that feeling of I'm not sure quite what's happening here, and they might report an area or a business or a concern to the helpline. As well as we support professionals via the helpline as well. So any individual who's working with someone that they've identified a few signs of exploitation and just need a little bit more information to support that individual further. Um so, yeah, professionals, members of the public, potential victims themselves, we will um support and be available to those in need.

Host:

Thank you. And then Anseen also can provide safe houses. What happens when a survivor first comes into one of these safe houses?

Lauren Saunders:

Yeah, so safe houses um are designed to be kind of that first place of location after someone's exited um a situation of exploitation. So we keep our safe houses as trauma informed as possible. We try and make them as homely in an environment because it's the first place where someone finally has freedom and they're to make their own decisions. Um, so the survivors that have lived in our safe houses, for example, they can choose things like the paint colour on the wall. That might be something that they've never been able to do before because they were in a situation of domestic servitude and they had to just stay within a confined space. There could be um opportunities for well-being activities. So we have lots of equipment to that people can use, like arts and craft materials, um, yoga mats, gym equipment, etc., so that people can really kind of find some hobbies and develop that well-being recovery whilst they're living in the safe house. And we also signpost them to support that might further help their recovery. So maybe support them to access a local GP surgery or support them to find a solicitor, support them to access the police to talk about their experiences to try and get a prosecution. So we really kind of work with an individual while they're living in the safe house to provide that safe space, that safe home after exploitation to help that recovery and build someone's life up again after some really difficult circumstances.

Host:

And you kind of covered it there, but what are some of the immediate needs that survivors have, whether they're emotionally legally or just practically?

Lauren Saunders:

Um so there's a number of needs that individuals have, and it really does come down to the individual, how long they were exploited, what type of exploitation they experienced, um, what their family life is like, what their personal circumstances are like. Um, someone may have injuries from their exploitation, so maybe that's they were physically abused, in which case some of those immediate needs could be supporting them to access AE, or it could be um supporting them to access GP and then regular physical health support to recover from those injuries. For people who've been exploited for a really long time, they may not have visited a dentist for a really long time, so it might be referring them to a dentist. Often, um, because the trauma that comes from exploitation can be quite deep, many people often need counselling or trauma recovery support. Um so we will help them access crisis lines if they have um signs of suicidal ideation or self-harm, and we will also link them in with longer-term therapy and mental health services that will help them with their recovery. So, yeah, it's very much individual on an individual basis depending on the exploitation.

Host:

Would you be able to share a story of a survivor who's come through and the moment you saw them start to reclaim their sense of self through unseen support?

Lauren Saunders:

I think over the years I've seen um and worked with many, many survivors, and I think they all stay in my mind for different reasons. And I think one individual I met very, very long time ago was heavily pregnant through the exploitation that they had experienced. It was sexual exploitation, so they did not know who the father was. They had been raped a number of times on a number of days, and this had gone on for a number of months. So that pregnancy was a real reminder of that situation that they'd been through, which was really difficult for them. So they were often quite low in terms of mental health, really um sort of expressing suicidal ideation and depression. I supported them to access counselling for that and linked them in with um some antenatal support, which I think throughout the pregnancy, it was it was the individual really wanted to um go down the adoption route or because it was too late to terminate. So it was she was really, really distraught through most of the pregnancy. Um and I remember sort of seeing her just a couple of days before the birth, and she was really kind of low. And then a week later, after the birth had happened and I saw her again, just the transition in her personality was tremendous. She had gone from a real place of I can't keep this baby. It reminds me of all of the horrific experiences I've been through, to this baby is the best thing that's ever happened to me. And she was over the moon, and I was able to, and she really wanted to kind of keep the baby there, so we were able to kind of support her to access all of the things that's that new mums need, um, lots of baby clothes, lots of um it kind of equipment and stuff, and actually just seeing that pivotal moment because quite often recovery takes a long time, and you don't have this moment from really low to really elated. Um, it often takes time, and you see that growth, you see that um people becoming more independent, but on this occasion, it really was that transition of gone from a really bad place one week and the next week it was just it was beautiful to see. So, yeah, that that's a real kind of success story that always sticks with me and sort of keeps reminding me of why I do what I do really.

Host:

Thank you for sharing. That's a really beautiful story. So, what are some of the long-term barriers that survivors face after leaving exploitation? And kind of off of that, what kind of systemic change is still needed?

Lauren Saunders:

I think there are a number of um sort of longer-term issues, and I think again it comes down to a case-by-case individual basis on what someone's entitlements are. It can be very difficult if you've never worked in a job, um, you know, in a kind of a full sort of what we'd call a safe job, um, an individual may not know how to understand an employment contract, or they may have to apply for visas, which they've never done before, or there might be um ongoing recovery that you can't just recover from serious exploitation in a short period of time. It can take years, and some people still five, six years down the line, have signs of um BTSD and trauma kind of reappears. So there can be like long-term issues there. There's also real concerns and access to support. Mental health services are really stretched, so there can often be long waiting times before recovery can even be beginning. Housing options are again very stretched. So, whilst people come and live with our safe house, that is designed to be a short-term recovery need. It's not a long-term housing solution. But when there's no alternative housing, it can be very difficult for an individual to sort of put the exploitation and the recovery behind them and move on to a really independent life. As well as um legal challenges, lots of people need access to a solicitor, maybe because if they, in the case of forced criminal exploitation, they may have a criminal history because they were forced to commit a crime as part of their exploitation. They may have received false prison sentences occasionally, we've seen through criminal exploitation, or which can then have a widespread impact on their ability to get a job or their ability to be believed because they have um this crime attached to their name. There might be immigration challenges. So if someone has been trafficked to the UK from overseas, they may not be able to return home because there might be a vulnerability present in their country of origin, which means that it wouldn't be safe for them to return home. So that fear of I've trying to recover from this situation, but I also have no home to go to can be really, really difficult. So yeah, there's a there's a number of significant ongoing barriers to recovery.

Host:

Absolutely. And then I think many people, many listeners would be shocked to hear that modern slavery can be linked to the clothes we wear or the food we eat. How does that connection happen?

Lauren Saunders:

I think a number of um businesses and corporate organizations will have massive supply chains. Some of those supply chains will be UK-based if they're UK-based businesses, some of them will be overseas bases. Um, and when you have big supply chains, it's very hard to kind of keep track on who's working in all of these different places. So, for example, exploitation that occurs in an agriculture industry or farming, there might be people being exploited in um, say, fruit picking. Um, so they're fruit picking in the field, they might not be wearing PPE, they may not be getting paid correctly, they may not be receiving all of the kind of basic minimum wage requirements, etc., that people need. But though that fruit gets picked, and then that fruit ends up in the supermarket and that you go to regularly, and then you buy that fruit. So it's understanding where the supply chains for things that you're purchasing come from. Um, and and that's just one industry, but there could be other areas, for example, construction, if there's exploitation happening in the materials supplying process, um, then again, it's that wood that's being used for building your house. Where's that come from? Has the exploitation happened there? Or when you're purchasing a house, for example, and it's been built by people who are exploited in the construction industry, that's something that you probably would never think about or consider when um looking into things. So it's really important for people to understand how exploitation occurs within supply chains so that then they can make conscious choices about where they're purchasing from. So businesses have a responsibility to have a modern slavery if they have a certain level of turnover within their organizations and annual turnover in their fees. So it's about looking at are those businesses publishing a modern slavery statement? Is there one available on the website? It does that modern slavery statement, is it robust? Is it clear that that business is taking steps to train its staff on how to identify modern slavery? And do they have reporting structures so that if modern slavery does occur, are they reporting about it and are they responding to it? So it's looking at ethical businesses and really doing your research before making purchases, I think, is is a really important thing to do.

Host:

Thank you. I think that's really helpful advice. But then also off of that, could you explain Unseen's business hub and maybe how you work with companies to identify and prevent exploitation in supply chains?

Lauren Saunders:

Yeah, so our business team can support many businesses on um the creation of their modern slavery statements or um doing their due diligence checks within those supply chains. So we can provide information on things to be aware of, for example, changes in legislation that may impact upon that business that means that they have requirements that they've got to meet. We can provide advice on that. We can also review information obtained from the business. The business can share that information with us and we can review the practices that they're taking part in. On occasions, we also do site visits, so we may go out to locations within a business's supply chains and have conversations with the workers to understand is there any signs of exploitation or is there any concerns that need to be reported up to the business leaders, etc. So, yeah, we can do a number of different things through our business portal. So I would very much recommend for any businesses who are concerned, checking out our website because there's lots of information available on there.

Host:

Thank you. And then perhaps even for smaller business, not just these bigger corporations, how can they play a part in tackling this issue?

Lauren Saunders:

Smaller businesses, I think it's really important to um again, as I was saying earlier, do your research in terms of where you're purchasing things. So if you need materials for your small business, it's actually looking at where are you getting your materials from? Are you purchasing them from just because it's the cheapest option, or are you looking at okay, this business that I'm buying that base of material from does this, this, this, and this, all relating to um good non-slavery practices. So, yeah, doing your research is a really good starting point.

Host:

Thank you. And then obviously Ansine's Helpline provides a unique window into what's really happening. What trends or shifts are you seeing in this data right now?

Lauren Saunders:

We are really seeing an increase in calls and contacts at the moment. Um, we are not fully sure in terms of why this is because there could be a number of factors. These could include that modern slavery is becoming more prevalent, or it could include um more individuals are identifying modern slavery. Um, so it's it's very, very kind of difficult to know. It also could include that individuals don't feel like that there's another place to go to for support or where they will be believed. Because the modern slavery helpline is confidential, um, a lot of people use that because it's it's an opportunity to kind of really talk about what they've been through in a confidential, safe place and have that kind of understanding that may not have been detected through other means. Um so we've supported many individuals who first may present in local authorities or the health service or in their businesses, and they may come forward with concerns. But if the person they've come forward to with concerns doesn't know what modern slavery is or doesn't know how to support them, and that person can go away feeling that no one will help them. Exploiters will also tell individuals that no one will come forward and help them as a way to keep people vulnerable and keep people in exploitation. So that that confidentiality space is really important with the helpline, and we really kind of encourage people who are concerned to to call that line because there will be that belief and we will be able to support.

Host:

Thank you. And uh earlier you touched on kind of the immediate issues in terms of housing, mental health support for survivors. Are there areas in particular where government action is falling short and maybe where would you like to see more focus?

Lauren Saunders:

I think it's really important to focus on that culture of belief. I think because modern slavery often is misunderstood as people smuggling and there can be a connotation around it being linked to illegal immigration, which it's it's not that. It is a crime, first and foremost, with um economic cost element to it. It costs just the economy thousands and thousands of pounds because the criminals will not be declaring that income, or um the investigations might be focused on the victim rather than going after the people who are actually behind the crime. So there could be wasted resources there. The recovery that it takes for survivors is a massive period of time where individuals often can't work because of the trauma that they've experienced, or um there could be a drain on um the mental health services that they need to recover. So there's a massive reason to focus on this issue, but often it is incorrectly mislabeled as an immigration issue. So we really focus on that culture of belief in understanding that a victim's testimony is so important for prosecutions. If you don't have a victim's testimony, then it's very hard for the police to understand what's actually going on behind the scenes and investigate and gather that evidence that's needed for the prosecutions. So it means that we're only ever a sticking plaster to the victims rather than going after what's causing them to be victims. So that's where focus really needs to be is how do we get better prosecutions, as well as focusing on prevention. How do we prevent victims becoming victims? And how do we prevent exploiters choosing exploitation as a means to financially gain from individuals? So it's looking at how do we better prevent non-slavery? How do we better respond when it does happen? How do we identify how do we have that culture of belief? And then how do we respond to that by taking the lessons learnt from people who've experienced modern slavery or large-scale cases where there has been prosecutions? How do we take the learning from that and stop it from happening again? So it's that cycle, and I think that that's where legislation and government focus should really be is how do we respond to the issue rather than focusing on just the top level surface.

Host:

Absolutely. And then over Unseen's history, you've played a massive part in helping towards changing this legislation. Can you kind of walk me through perhaps how you used your experience and the information to influence policy?

Lauren Saunders:

Yeah, so there's been another number of key um areas that we've been involved in in our history. Um so Justine Carter and Andrew Wallace, two of our SLT members, were heavily involved in the creation of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Since then, we have continued um to influence policy through data, information, insights from lived experience. Um, so we create and develop policy briefings, research papers on the issue of modern slavery across the various different areas that we've worked in. This is a kind of combination of large-scale data sets for the modern slavery helpline because we get so many calls and contacts. We can really be that early warning system of when there's a change in exploitation, we start to see calls on the helpline change and shift in nature, and we can provide information to the government about that shift so that we can quickly respond to it. We also have fed into a number of updates to the modern slavery statutory guidance over the years, as well as feeding in evidence and insights from the survivors that we work with in our safe houses and in the community. The experiences that they've had, for example, if they've gone to the police and not had the right policing response, we've been able to go out and train the police on how better to respond in future. So we really use the experience from the survivors that we're supporting, as well as the experience from our trained teams and the data, large-scale data sets that we hold to influence a change where where we think change can occur.

Host:

If someone listening suspects something, what's the best next step that they can take?

Lauren Saunders:

Um, there's two methods. Um, first we'll be looking at Unseen's website. We have lots of information on the website about what modern slavery is, how it might occur, and so it can kind of help get that deeper understanding of what you're seeing and what might be happening. Um, calling the helpline is another is another means to be able to kind of have that conversation in real time about a concern, as well as um following us on social media, following our newsletters, because we provide regular updates by those means on the changes in exploitation, um, so that if people are kind of focused on one area, we notice that exploiters will find a different area because they want to evade detection. Um, so our regular updates and information can be really beneficial to understand how that shift is happening.

Host:

Thank you. And then finally, how can people help support the amazing work happening at Unseen?

Lauren Saunders:

Um so again, yeah, following us on social media, following um our newsletter can donate via our fundraising pages on our website. Um, at the start of December, there will be a kind of a week's focused fundraising activity called the Big Give, where any donation received within that time um can be doubled. So that's a really kind of good time to engage in activity if that's something that you're interested in.

Host:

Thank you so much for your time today. It's been really amazing speaking with you.

Lauren Saunders:

Yeah, thank you very much for having me. It's it's been good to talk about.

Host:

Thank you again to Lauren for joining us on this week's episode. If you'd like to support Unseen's work, you can visit their website at unseenuk.org or find them on social media at unseenuk. If you or someone you're worried about needs help or advice, you can contact the UK Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline on 0800 121 700. The helpline is free, confidential, open from 8am to 9pm every day and available in 200 languages. You've been listening to Rebel Justice. If you'd like to support our work and receive four digital editions and one print issue a year, subscribe to the View for just £20. Make sure to follow us on our social media. We're on Instagram at the underscore view underscore magazines. And you can also find us on LinkedIn, X, and TikTok. If you'd like to reach out to us directly, you can email inquiries to us at press at theview magazine.org. Please share this story.