The United Kingdom (U.K.) is seeing record levels of modern slavery driven by rising living costs and worsening economic pressures, a trend the government’s independent anti-slavery commissioner says is expected to worsen over the next decade.
Data from the National Referral Mechanism, which identifies potential victims of slavery and connects them with support services, shows referrals have nearly doubled in the past five years, rising from 12,691 in 2021 to 23,411 in 2025, the highest figure on record.
U.K. nationals accounted for more than a fifth of referrals in 2025, at 22% or 5,110 cases. Other top nationalities included Eritrean nationals at 13% (3,083 cases) and Vietnamese nationals at 9% (1,998 cases).
In her report published Tuesday, Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner Eleanor Lyons said the increase was not only due to improved detection of slavery but also to deteriorating conditions in the U.K. and globally.
“Poverty, global instability, conflict, global displacement of people and the breakdown of safe migration routes are creating a growing pipeline of vulnerability that traffickers are quick to exploit,” she said in the report: Anticipating Exploitation: A Futures-Based Analysis.
Lyons warned that artificial intelligence (AI) and new technologies are worsening the problem. As exploitation moves into less visible digital spaces, detection and enforcement have become more difficult.
“Artificial intelligence and digital platforms are transforming how traffickers identify, recruit, and control victims at scale. The rise of AI-enabled scams, deepfakes, synthetic identities, and new forms of digital labour exploitation are lowering barriers to entry for criminals, expanding the pool of victims, and making exploitation harder to detect,” she said.
The report highlights emerging patterns such as online grooming, the use of short-term accommodation as pop-up brothels and drug-facilitated coercion.
It also raises concerns over “debt bonding,” in which victims are given virtual gifts such as phone credit and video game currencies to create a sense of obligation. It cites so-called “remote mothering,” where perpetrators pose as protective parental figures and manipulate victims into enabling tracking apps that allow them to monitor and control their movements or behavior.
The report also flags concerns over the continued growth of gig economy platforms, forced labor in industries such as agriculture, construction and mining, and a rise in reproductive slavery, including forced egg harvesting and surrogacy.
Lyons said the country needs a coordinated, whole-system response to tackle modern slavery.
She urged ministers to increase funding for specialist police units to disrupt exploitation, prosecute more businesses involved in exploiting or enslaving workers, and launch a national campaign to help the public recognize and report exploitation.
“The current response is no longer sufficient. What is required now is not incremental change, but a step change, a whole-system response that matches the scale of the threat: coordinated across government and rooted in prevention as much as prosecution of perpetrators,” Lyons said.
