Modern Slavery: The Salvation Army is awarded Victim Care Contract

The Salvation Army is pleased to confirm that it has been appointed to retain the Government’s Victim Care Contract to manage the support of victims of modern slavery*1 in England and Wales.

We are delighted that this enables us to continue our work in this area and, together with our specialist partners, to build on the experience gained from helping more than 2,500*2   victims of human trafficking since July 2011 when The Salvation Army was first appointed to this contract.

Major Anne Read, Anti-Trafficking Response Coordinator for The Salvation Army said: “The successful delivery of this contract has depended on the hard work, skill, and teamwork of all our partner organisations. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank them for their contribution.  We look forward to working together with them, as we meet the increasing number of people being referred to our service for support and accommodation, as they begin to recover from the ordeal of modern slavery.”

[Read more: Our work with victims of trafficking]

During the third year of the contract 889 people were supported by The Salvation Army and its specialist partnerships.  Of those people 540 were women, 347 were men, and two were transgender. This was an increase of 62 per cent on the number of people supported in the second year of the contract (550) and a 135 per cent increase on those supported in the first year (378).

The specialist support programme provided by The Salvation Army and its diverse range of partners accommodates, protects and cares for victims, and provides them with access to confidential, client-based, tailored support services to ensure that every man and woman referred will receive the best and most appropriate support available. We offer unconditional support without discrimination wherever there is a need. All agencies working with The Salvation Army on this contract are specialists in providing care for potential victims of modern slavery and operate with highly trained professionals.

For 150 years The Salvation Army has been working with victims of slavery and our commitment remains as strong now as it has been throughout our history. The Salvation Army will therefore continue not only to provide direct support to victims of modern slavery, but also to influence stakeholders in the UK and across the 126 countries in which we operate, in order to fight for the eradication of modern slavery.

ENDS

*1  Modern Slavery as defined in the Modern Slavery Act

*2 figure from July 2011 to February 2015.