Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin selected to join pilot scheme to speed up support for child trafficking victims
Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin are amongst eight new areas joining a Government scheme to speed up support for child victims of exploitation and human trafficking.
The pilot, that first launched in 2021, transfers responsibility for deciding on cases of child victims of modern slavery from the Home Office to local safeguarding teams.
The Home Office said the scheme has already proven effective in reducing long waits for vulnerable children - cutting average decision times from 471 days to just 101 days in pilot areas.
Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin will now join other new locations including Birmingham, Edinburgh and Northern Ireland, as part of an expansion of the initiative.
The scheme aims to help more child victims receive the specialist care and support they need much sooner, giving them greater safety and stability, rather than waiting months in uncertainty about their future.
The Government said the scheme puts children "at the heart" of decisions regarding their case, with local experts who "understand their community" making choices about the support they need to recover and move forward.
Under the scheme, local teams of police officers, social workers, and health professionals will work together to assess each child’s needs.
Jess Phillips, Minister for Safeguarding and Violence against Women and Girls said: "When a child falls victim to modern slavery - whether through human trafficking or in the vile County Lines drug trade - they can face unimaginable trauma and lasting damage. Time is of the essence when it comes to getting them the specialist support they need to heal and be children again.
"This Devolved Decision-Making pilot is delivering remarkable results - cutting waiting times by over a year means vulnerable children get the support they desperately need much faster.
"By expanding to eight new areas, we're building the evidence to roll this successful approach out nationally and improve how we protect all children in our country from modern slavery."
The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is the UK’s framework for identifying and supporting victims of modern slavery. By shifting decisions closer to the front line, the Government said the pilot has increased awareness and understanding of modern slavery within local authorities, leading to earlier identification of potential victims and more appropriate referrals to support services.
The expansion of the scheme supports the Government’s wider Plan for Change, which includes a commitment to eliminate the NRM case backlog. As of June, the backlog had fallen to just more than 11,500 cases - a 61 per cent reduction from its peak in 2022.
The Home Office said the eight new pilot sites were selected through a competitive process, targeting areas that will "help test the model more thoroughly" ahead of a potential rollout across the entire country.
In addition to the expansion, the Government has recruited more than 180 new staff to help reduce decision-making times and introduced a more streamlined, user-friendly referral system for frontline responders.
