Our Work to Date

The Council has been committed to tackling modern slavery in line with our 2023 to 2028 Modern Slavery and Exploitation Strategy. This included:

We have developed public communications, tools, and resources to raise awareness of modern slavery, human trafficking, and child exploitation. The London Borough of Bexley ran and attended several community outreach programmes to promote awareness of Modern Slavery in 2025. Across all events throughout the year, a total of 225 individuals took part, enabling Bexley to promote Modern Slavery awareness to a broad and diverse audience. 

In February 2026, we delivered a Tri‑Borough Anti‑Slavery Conference in partnership with the London Boroughs of Greenwich and Lewisham. The event equipped professionals with strengthened knowledge and practical tools to respond more confidently to concerns of exploitation. Through a lived‑experience speaker, detailed insights into the National Referral Mechanism, and focused sessions on care sector exploitation and trafficking orders, attendees gained greater clarity on reporting pathways and the support available to survivors. More than 100 professionals from across the three boroughs participated in the conference. 

We have expanded our Modern Slavery Working Group with partnership to include partners outside of the Local Authority, including statutory and voluntary partners, to ensure a holistic approach to tackling modern slavery in Bexley. Here, we share and develop information, tools, and resources. Through this partnership, we have put modern slavery on the agenda for many other agencies and organisations, and this is being more widely recognised. 

The London Borough of Bexley is now entering its second year of participation in the Human Trafficking Foundation’s Buddy System pilot. The pilot was created in response to similar challenges that local authorities often face when it comes to tackling modern slavery. The aim of the pilot is to strengthen inter-borough collaboration, to share best practices, develop strategies and identify common challenges to work on collectively. 

We created our fourth Transparency-in-Supply Chains Statement (below); while not a legal requirement, we seek to embed steps into our procurement practices to deter exploitation in our supply chains and address risks where they might arise. We have HR policies and practices, such as recruitment, whistleblowing, and grievance procedures, to ensure we have responsible recruitment practices, and that no Council employee is exploited. We have developed a Risk Matrix for our commissioned care contracts, to ensure we are aware of marketplace risks based on national concerns around exploitation in the care sector. We are developing a wider risk assessment of our Council supply chain and advising staff on how to identify and mitigate risk in contracts they manage.

We require all local authority staff to undertake modern slavery training and offer more intensive training for frontline professionals in Bexley, including those who are not First Responders. This ensures a shared cross-sector understanding of modern slavery and confidence in fulfilling all our roles and duties in tackling it.  As of March 2026, 96% of Council employees have completed and passed internal mandatory training. We delivered our Continuous Practical Development (CPD) accredited Adult Modern Slavery and Child Exploitation Workshops to local partners to improve our understanding and actions responding to modern slavery of children and young people. In 2025 there were 14 Modern Slavery training sessions ran, with an attendance of 185 people over the year. The trainings provided were on Adult Modern Slavery; Child Exploitation; and Sexual Exploitation. 100% of participants reported that their understanding of modern slavery had increased after attending the training. This enhanced confidence and awareness strengthened professionals’ ability to recognise indicators of exploitation, understand the dynamics of modern slavery, and respond appropriately to potential victims.

We keep updated of changing laws, policies and guidance and update our own policies and practices accordingly. We do this by participating in local, regional, and national networks and learning from best practice of other local authorities and partnerships. We report to the Bexley Community Safety Partnership quarterly on our modern slavery work to ensure oversight of delivery against the Modern Slavery and Exploitation Strategy. 

We are entering our fourth year as a pilot site for the Child National Referral Mechanism Devolved Decision-Making Panel Pilot, in which we coordinate a local panel of local authority, police and health professionals to make decisions about whether children referred into the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) are victims of modern slavery or not. The Bexley panel has been recognised for its efficient and effective work, which in turn has informed participating professional’s understanding of the realities of modern slavery. 

In 2024, we developed a free multi-agency, confidential Modern Slavery drop-in service for anyone who has concerns around exploitation or trafficking. This service runs on the third Thursday of each month, with no appointment required, allowing potential victims, professionals and concerned residents to access support and information with translators available on request. The aim of the service is to provide accessible and anonymous reporting of modern slavery, trafficking, and related concerns. The service is held at the Salvation Army on Lion’s Road in Bexleyheath, with the following core agencies represented:

• Adult Social Care
• Community Safety Team
• Department of Work and Pensions
• Housing
• Immigration
• Metropolitan Police
• The Salvation Army
• Pier Road Project  

As a result of strong partnership working with the Salvation Army and Metropolitan Police, there was an effective and timely response to two multi-victim cases of Modern Slavery in 2024. Multi agency working across the two agencies with the London Borough of Bexley meant that multiple potential victims were identified, interviewed, and supported under the NRM process. Many of the potential victims were referred to the NRM and received their Positive Reasonable and Conclusive Ground Decisions. In addition, the drop‑in has continued to grow in visibility, attendance and impact over the year. The overall engagement has increased, with more professionals actively signposting clients to the service. This growing awareness has enabled us to reach individuals directly affected by exploitation in a safe, confidential environment, reinforcing the value of the drop‑in as an accessible space for people to seek support and raise concerns.

Through these various efforts, the London Borough of Bexley has been able to promote awareness of the signs of Modern Slavery, as well as provide crucial training to not only frontline professionals, but residents too. As a result of this work, the number of referrals for Modern Slavery victims by the London Borough of Bexley increased from 90 referrals in 2024 to 96 referrals in 2025 (Bexley’s NRM and DtN Spreadsheet.) Whilst an increase in referrals of Modern Slavery cases may be seen as a concern, this is a positive outcome; the increase in referrals means first that we are more effective at identifying victims, and second, that that professionals are better engaging with potential victims and referring them to the right support mechanisms. We need to identify victims to support them.

Areas of Focus in 2026 to 2027

Looking ahead to 2026/27, many of our objectives and actions remain ongoing priorities. At the same time, we must stay responsive to emerging legislation, local developments, and evolving patterns of exploitation. Anticipated changes to legislation will require us to adapt our approach, review our operational processes, and ensure that frontline professionals remain equipped to respond effectively. 

We will continue to deliver against the four overarching goals of Prevent, Protect, Prepare, and Pursue, adapting our approach as progress is made and new needs arise. Through this, we want to build a borough where exploitation is identified early, responded to effectively, and prevented through strong systems and informed communities.

We will continue to embed a survivor‑centred, trauma‑informed approach across all operational areas, ensuring that the voices and experiences of those affected by exploitation shape our work. We will also deepen collaboration with statutory partners, businesses, and community organisations to strengthen a coordinated local response.

Our main actions this year are to:

To ensure transparency and continuous improvement, we will monitor progress against these actions quarterly and report outcomes to the partnership.