Modern slavery victims 'unlawfully denied '

Victims of modern slavery are being blocked from because of unlawful Home Office decisions, the BBC has been told.

The government can provide housing, legal representation and use of the NHS if there are "reasonable grounds" to believe someone is a victim.

In 2023-2024, 314 people received in the south and south east of England, 104 fewer than the year before, despite more potential victims being identified.

The Home Office said: "All decision makers undergo thorough training and all negative decisions are quality assured to ensure a robust and consistent approach."

Modern slavery in the UK usually takes the form of forced labour, domestic servitude, and criminal and sexual exploitation.

Outside of London, the south and south east had the most victims granted in 2023-2024, according to data from the Salvation Army.

About 19,000 potential victims were referred to the Home Office in 2024 - the highest on record, and an increase of around 2,000 from the year before.

But a Hampshire-based worker said evidence requested by the government could be almost impossible to provide, as victims may have been locked indoors and isolated.

Stevie Waight, from the Medaille Trust charity, leads a project ing survivors in Hampshire.

She said one of them was locked inside a property in Portsmouth and told she would have to sleep with men her trafficker would bring there.

When she refused, he starved her and verbally abused her.

Ms Waight said eventually she managed to escape, and with the charity's help, was able to get government - meaning she could give birth without NHS debt.

But she said the threshold for proof that someone had experienced slavery had risen, and getting positive decisions had become more complex.

"You're working with someone who's been locked in rooms, they don't have documents, they don't have a mobile phone," Ms Waight said.

"Other than their word, how are they meant to evidence what has happened to them"Councillor Lorna Fielker, Labour leader of Southampton City Council " class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/>