Initial questions

This Call for Evidence is a key step towards longer-term reforms of the identification system. Through this Call for Evidence, the Government is interested in hearing from a wide range of different groups about ways that the UK can have a more effective identification system for victims of modern slavery, where victims are recognised early and accurately so they can be protected and provided with appropriate assistance and support towards their recovery from exploitation.

We are inviting responses from anyone with evidence on the modern slavery identification system in the UK, including but not limited to: 

• Victims, Survivors and People with Lived Experience of modern slavery 
• Academics and researchers 
• Law enforcement 
• First Responders to the National Referral Mechanism 
• Charites/NGOs 
• Local Authorities (in England, Wales, Scotland) or health and social care trusts (in Northern Ireland) 
• Lawyers 
• International organisations 

The above list of respondents is not exhaustive or exclusive, and responses are welcomed from any member of the public with an interest in or views on the subject covered by this Call for Evidence. 

Respondents can provide evidence on all or specific questions in this Call for Evidence. For the purposes of this Call for Evidence, the types of evidence you should submit include: 

• ideas that are personal or on behalf of an organisation about the identification system 
• unpublished research or data analysis within an organisation 
• examples of good practice in the UK identification system or  
• examples of where the current system could be improved – including domestically or internationally  

Please avoid submitting: 

• external links to published research, evidence, or case studies, for example journal articles, statistics, academic papers, and media sources. A review of published sources is being carried out as part of this project, so it would be more beneficial at this stage to receive unpublished information, or new analysis of existing evidence. 
• any information that may identify you or another person. This includes information that may directly identify people such as names and addresses. It also includes information that may allow people to be indirectly identified, such as descriptions of where they live or spend their time, what they do for work, their educational and health histories.  This is not an exhaustive list; please review your contribution and use your judgement to determine whether it contains identifying information.

The identification system involves lots of technical terms and so we have prepared a glossary to explain some of the terms used within this Call for Evidence. You may wish to have the glossary open in another window so you can refer to it as you complete the Call for Evidence. Click here to open this glossary in a new window. 

We will not be able to process information about individual cases if it is provided through this Call for Evidence.

You have to option to save your progress at any point by clicking the link at the bottom of any page. You will be prompted to enter your name and email address but these will be stored separately to the content of your answers and your response will remain anonymous.

You can report modern slavery as a member of the public, or report it yourself if you are a potential victim. Call 999 in an emergency. If it is not an emergency you can call the UK Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline (run by the charity Unseen) on 0800 0121 700 or report it online.