Number of Brits referred to The Salvation Army as modern slaves doubles in a year

A new report by the Christian charity has been released on Thursday to mark Anti-Slavery Day.

The study found 86 British victims were supported by The Salvation Army between July 2017 and June 2018, up from 44 the year before.

Dianne Payne from the charity told Premier there are many ways people can be manipulated into slavery.

She explained: “It can be labour exploitation which could be anything from farming, from working in a factory, working on a building site, it can be domestic servitude – somebody who was been brought in to the house as a server but then finds themselves pretty much a slave.”

A total of 1,856 people were referred to the service making the total number of victims supported by the church and charity this year 3,354.

The report notes the charity saw a large increase in British victims referred following forced criminality in dealing drugs, often where traffickers used their addiction problems to coerce them.

The majority of all victims referred were female – 1064 referred; 790 were male and two identified as transgender.

Director of anti-trafficking and modern slavery for The Salvation Army, Kathy Betteridge said in a statement: “We have supported people from 86 different countries and every story is different. What is important is that anyone in this situation right now needs to know we are here to…