Understanding how children are trafficked and exploited within the UK and internationally, and how to make a National Referral Mechanism referral.
Trafficking is the exploitation of children through force, coercion, or deception for purposes such as labour, crime, or sexual abuse, including moving them for exploitation.
Child trafficking involves the recruitment, transport, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation. Under international law, no consent given by a child can make trafficking lawful. In the UK, the Modern Slavery Act 2015 provides the legislative framework for identifying and prosecuting trafficking and slavery offences. Children may be trafficked for sexual exploitation, forced labour, domestic servitude, or criminal activity such as drug supply.
Traffickers may pose as family members, romantic partners, or legitimate employers. Children are moved across county or national borders and controlled through debt bondage, violence, threats, or psychological manipulation. The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is the formal UK process for identifying potential victims of modern slavery and human trafficking and ensuring they receive appropriate support.
In your child's behaviour
On their device
Know how to make an NRM referral
Any first responder — including teachers, social workers, and police — can make a referral to the NRM using the online referral form via the Home Office. Referrals should be made for any child where there are reasonable grounds to believe they may be a victim of trafficking or modern slavery.
Share information across agencies
Modern slavery and trafficking cases require co-ordinated responses across police, social care, health, education, and immigration services. Use your local MASH and ensure all agencies are aware of the child's situation.
Contact the Modern Slavery Helpline for advice
The Modern Slavery Helpline on 08000 121 700 provides 24/7 advice for professionals and members of the public who have concerns about modern slavery or trafficking. They can advise on identification, referral, and next steps.
In immediate danger: call 999. For non-emergency police matters, call 101.
Concerned about a child but it's not an emergency? NSPCC helpline 0808 800 5000. Childline for young people 0800 1111.
This is practical educational content to support families. For case-specific concerns about a child's safety, contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 or your local safeguarding team.
Myth: Trafficking and modern slavery only involve children who are brought into the UK from other countries.
Fact: Trafficking is defined by movement for the purpose of exploitation, and that movement can be as small as one town to another or one county to another — it doesn't need to cross a border. British children moved around the UK for county lines drug operations are recognised as trafficking victims in the same way as children brought in from abroad.
Myth: Modern slavery means being physically locked up or chained — if a young person can leave the house, go to school, or walk around freely, it isn't really slavery.
Fact: Control in modern slavery is usually psychological rather than physical — through debt, threats to the young person or their family, confiscated phones or ID, and manipulation that makes leaving feel impossible or unsafe. A child can attend school, socialise, and appear free while still being controlled and exploited by someone else.
Myth: It mainly happens to teenage boys from difficult or chaotic backgrounds.
Fact: Any child can be targeted, and exploiters deliberately look for children who won't be suspected, including girls and children who are doing well at school or living in stable homes. There are documented cases of exploitation with no known risk factors at all, which is why the warning signs matter more than a young person's background.
Grooming for exploitation can begin surprisingly young, partly because primary-school-age children are seen as less likely to be caught or suspected. Keep conversations simple: an adult or older child who offers gifts, money, or asks them to keep a secret from you isn't being a good friend, even if they seem kind — and they should always feel able to tell you.
As they gain more independence, talk about how someone — an older teenager or adult, online or in person — might offer money, trainers, a phone, or a lift somewhere in exchange for holding or carrying something, or going along with them. Unexplained money, new possessions, or unusual trips are worth a calm conversation, not an accusation.
Be direct about what trafficking and exploitation can look like at this age: being asked to travel to an unfamiliar place, stay overnight somewhere without a clear reason, or move something for someone in exchange for money or status. Reassure them that the law is meant to treat an exploited child as a victim first, not a criminal (Modern Slavery Act 2015), and that you and specialist support such as the National Referral Mechanism are there to help them find a way out.
As they move towards independence — a first job, college, or their own place — talk about how exploitation can look like a fake job offer, unpaid 'training,' or being drawn into debt they're told they must work off. The legal protection for young victims applies right up to 18, and the National Referral Mechanism and Modern Slavery Helpline are there for them or you if something feels wrong.
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