News & Updates

NRM Newsletter- Guardianship Grant Extension

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Independent Child Trafficking Guardianship Grant Extension
Independent Child Trafficking Guardians (ICTGs) provide specialist support and advice for trafficked children, by advocating on their behalf to ensure the child’s best interests are reflected in decisions made by public authorities. The ICTG service currently covers two-thirds of local authorities in England and Wales. Further information can be found here: Interim guidance for ICTGs (publishing.service.gov.uk) The Home Office is pleased to announce that Barnardo’s current grant has been extended until March 2024. All first responders must complete an online ICTG referral form (available here or here in Welsh) when completing a NRM referral and following local authority safeguarding procedures. The ICTG 24-hour assessment helpline is also available on: 0800 043 4303.
Requests for disclosure of safe house addresses in the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract
In the past few months, The Salvation Army has been notified by subcontractors working under the Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract that they are receiving repeated requests from NRM First Responders and other partners, such as HMPPS, for disclosure of safehouse addresses in which service users are accommodated. While we appreciate that there will be specific safeguarding circumstances in which the confirmation of the address will be required, we are not able to provide the addresses purely for record keeping purposes. All specific safeguarding circumstances will be assessed by the safehouse management on a case-by-case basis in order to establish, whether the disclosure is required. Ensuring the safety and security of our service users and staff is our top priority which requires us to keep the locations of safehouses confidential.
Removal of Multi-Agency Assurance Panels (MAAPs)
On Tuesday 13th December, the following updates were made to the Modern Slavery Statutory Guidance: The minimum Recovery Period following a positive Reasonable Grounds decision in England and Wales was amended from 45 days to 30 days. This approach aligns with the minimum Recovery Period length set out in the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 and the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (ECAT). The accommodation guidance section of Annex F was updated to clarify eligibility for Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract accommodation for victims who are seeking bail or release on license from immigration detention, including where electronic monitoring is a condition of their release, and to clarify the interplay between MSVCC accommodation, asylum accommodation, and support provided through Schedule 10to the Immigration Act 2016. Paragraphs 15.50-15.53 were updated to clarify eligibility for financial support when a victim who has consented to enter support cannot be contacted to facilitate their entry. Guidance on re-entry to the main Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract support service was added at paragraphs 8.34-8.37. The pressure on the timeliness of decision-making in the NRM has continued to increase over time. The design of the Multi-Agency Assurance Panels (MAAPs) process contributed to the number of days in decision-making timelines. To help provide greater certainty sooner to individuals exiting the NRM as non-victims, the process for independent assurance that was provided by MAAPs is being remodelled. The Guidance has therefore been updated to make sure that the Competent Authorities can issue negative Conclusive Grounds decisions as necessary without being routed through to the MAAPs. Paragraphs 14.118 –14.173 and other references to MAAPs throughout the Guidance have therefore been removed. We are working to ensure that a new assurance process can be introduced in spring 2023 to continue to assure and drive further improvements in NRM decision making in such a way that does not add time to service of outcomes. If you have any queries about this update or you have any feedback that you would like us to reflect on for future newsletters, please let us know at [email protected] You can also signup here to be added to the mailing list. Best wishes, Modern Slavery Unit