Government should outlaw ‘pimping websites’ and tackle demand to combat human trafficking

Home Affairs Committee finds human trafficking “no longer a priority” for UK Government, with small boats and the Rwanda policy prioritised at the expense of tackling this abhorrent crime. 

Little evidence for Government’s claims that human trafficking protections being abused to game the asylum system.

UK failing to deal with the reality of human trafficking crime which also affects thousands of British nationals and children.

A pre-occupation with irregular migration has resulted in efforts to tackle human trafficking being de-prioritised, the Home Affairs Committee has warned. Unless the Government moves beyond a strategy focussed on stopping ‘small boats’ and organised immigration crime, the UK will fail to deal with the reality of human trafficking crime which also affects thousands of British nationals and children.

The Home Office has failed to produce sufficient evidence to support its claims of widespread abuse of the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) or people trying to game the system in order to claim asylum. The influential cross-party committee of MPs is calling for a stronger focus on tackling the underlying demand that drives human trafficking and makes it a lucrative enterprise for criminals.

Prosecutions and conviction rates for human trafficking remain unacceptably low, with only 286 cases referred to the Crown Prosecution Service in 2022, despite there being 16,938 referrals into the NRM – the national framework for identifying and supporting victims of modern slavery. The NRM is inappropriate for supporting children and needs greater resources to deal with the scale of human trafficking in the UK. The criminal justice system also needs better co-ordination, training and direction if it is to drive up prosecutions, the Committee has found. 

In terms of trafficking for sexual exploitation, there needs to be greater deterrence and stronger penalties for men who pay for sex. ‘Pimping websites’ used by traffickers to advertise victims to sex buyers should be outlawed, with the current policing response to these online platforms judged as wholly inadequate.  

Chair of the Home Affairs Committee, Dame Diana Johnson MP, said: 

“Human trafficking encompasses some of the most abhorrent criminality that occurs in the UK and it must be a top Government priority to eradicate it. Yet the Government has chosen to sacrifice its focus on human trafficking as part of its response to irregular migration. This is unnecessary and unjustified. We found little evidence the system of support for trafficking victims is being abused by individuals attempting to remain in the country.

“It beggars belief that the Government has allowed pimping websites to operate and has done next to nothing to deter the minority of men who pay for sex. Websites are directly fuelling sex trafficking across the UK and causing unimaginable harm to victims. The Government’s indifference to this facilitation is emblematic of its overall response to human trafficking.

"It is vital that perception of human trafficking moves away from focussing on people crossing national borders. The reality is that this is a problem that affects thousands of UK nationals and children. There is a lack of specialised services to support them and work to develop dedicated pathways needs to speed up. We are also deeply concerned by a lack of action over child human trafficking victims who have gone missing. We need to see more urgency from Government in providing vulnerable people with the support they need.”

Report findings

Government priorities 

The Home Office has deprioritised its work to combat human trafficking. This reduced focus is reflected in the role of Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner being kept unfilled for 18 months, as well as poor engagement with charities, criminal justice and victims.

The Committee recommends:

• The Government must speed up efforts to deliver a new and overhauled Modern Slavery Strategy and resume publication of its annual reports on human trafficking.
• The Government should provide comprehensive data to support its claims of abuse of the NRM. 
• A renewed focus should be placed on building partnerships with the financial services industry and regulators to better identify the proceeds from trafficking crimes. 

Eradicating sexual exploitation 

Human trafficking will continue to be attractive and extremely profitable to criminals unless more is done to tackle the demand for the criminality it services. There is currently too little deterrence for men who pay for sex and this creates a market for  trafficking for sexual exploitation, the Committee finds. Websites advertising prostitution enable and profit from this exploitation without even minimal safeguards on their platforms. The Committee is deeply concerned with the decision of the National Crime Agency and the Home Office to work with these websites given there is no evidence that it has led to a reduction in human trafficking on them.  

The Committee recommends:

• Make it an offence for any individual or company to enable and/or profit from the prostitution of another person, including facilitation that takes place via websites.
• Section 53A of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (‘Paying for sexual services of a prostitute subjected to force etc’) should be strengthened and penalties upon conviction increased to ensure comparability with other sexual and trafficking offences and to increase the deterrent value. There should also be much greater use of section 53A by police forces and the CPS.
• The Government should conduct a comprehensive review of all legislative, policy and educational initiatives that are underway to reduce demand for sexual exploitation and report on this by June 2024. This review should compare the UKs approach with European countries and consider whether the Government should follow others in criminalising all acts of paying for or attempting to pay for sex and decriminalising victims of exploitation by removing penalties for soliciting. 

Trafficking of children 

In 2022, 41% of all referrals to the NRM were children. The NRM is not appropriate for children and there is an urgent need for a joined-up approach to victim support that adequately addresses their needs. Measures such as devolving decision making on cases to local authorities and providing Independent Child Trafficking Guardians to support victims are examples of schemes that can have a positive impact but are not widely available.

The Committee recommends:

• The Government should speed up assessment and roll-out of schemes such as Independent Child Trafficking Guardians to ensure high quality support is available across the country.  
• Consider introducing a statutory definition of child criminal exploitation.

Other key recommendations

• To combat forced labour, Section 54 (publishing a transparency statement) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 must be strengthened by utilising sanctions for non-compliance. This should be extended to the public sector, to reduce the risk of the UK purchasing goods produced using forced labour.
• The definition of human trafficking in the Modern Slavery Act 2015 should be amended to remove the requirement for the exploitation to have involved travel.
• The number of days taken to make NRM decisions should be significantly reduced and the backlog of National Referral Mechanism decisions cleared.
• Victim support should be at the forefront of the law enforcement response when human trafficking is uncovered. The ‘Victim Navigator’ programme should be expanded and utilised in all cases.