The UK is facing a sharp rise in modern slavery cases, driven by worsening poverty, the cost of living crisis, and the growing use of technology by criminal networks, according to the country’s independent anti-slavery commissioner.
More than 23,000 potential victims were referred to monitoring authorities in 2025, marking a 22 percent increase on the previous year and the highest figure ever recorded.
The findings, published in a major new report, warn that human trafficking, forced labour, and sexual exploitation are becoming increasingly difficult to detect. Without urgent intervention, experts say organised criminal networks will continue to expand their reach across the UK.
A growing proportion of victims are British nationals. In 2025, more than 20 percent of referrals involved UK citizens, making them the largest single group. Eritrean nationals accounted for 13 percent, followed by Vietnamese nationals at 9 percent.
The report, published over a decade after the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, draws on evidence from more than 50 organisations and highlights how exploitation patterns are evolving.
It identifies three key drivers behind the rise in modern slavery: increasing living costs, rising personal debt, and insecure employment. It also warns that global conflict and displacement are making vulnerable people easier targets for traffickers.
A particularly concerning trend is the role of technology. The report states that artificial intelligence and online platforms are now being used by traffickers to recruit, groom, and control victims on a large scale.
Eleanor Lyons, the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, said the findings show exploitation is no longer a distant issue.
“The most harrowing forms of exploitation are becoming more widespread in this country and evolving faster than we can respond. It will spread further and become harder to stop unless we act now.”
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said that British children are increasingly being targeted by criminals.
She explained that perpetrators often exploit children through online gaming platforms, using chat functions to build trust by offering in-game rewards before progressing to manipulation and blackmail.
“That is the beginning of a journey of grooming and blackmail,” she said.
Lyons added that boys are more commonly exploited through criminal activity such as county lines drug trafficking, while girls are more often targeted for sexual exploitation. She warned that sexual exploitation of girls has risen by more than 50 percent in the past five years and is affecting younger children.
She also said many victims, both children and adults, are too frightened to seek help due to fear of consequences.
“We used to think that this was predominantly something that happened on far-flung shores,” she said, “but it happens across the UK.”
Lyons warned that the UK’s response is not keeping pace with the scale of the problem and called for stronger government action. Her recommendations include increased funding for specialist policing units and tougher penalties for businesses that fail to comply with anti-slavery regulations.
“Behind these numbers are real people being abused in ways most of us would struggle to imagine, whether it’s women forced into the sex trade, children coerced into drug gangs, or workers trapped in brutal conditions with no way out, often living in absolute fear,” she said.
A Home Office spokesperson said the government remains committed to reviewing the modern slavery system to ensure it is not open to abuse, while maintaining protections for genuine victims. The department also said it is working with survivors and taking steps to reduce delays in processing cases.
The Modern Slavery Act 2015 remains the UK’s main legal framework for tackling exploitation. It consolidated previous offences into a single law and introduced stronger protections for victims, including a legal defence for those forced to commit crimes under coercion.