Member

Amendment 152 is about the right to work for people in the national referral mechanism if they have been waiting for more than three months for a conclusive grounds decision to be made. An individual is referred to the national referral mechanism after a two-step process: first, a government-nominated body called a first responder considers that there are reasonable grounds to believe that they are a victim of modern slavery, and, secondly, that is then reviewed by the Home Office. The individual cannot refer themselves to the NRM. In the NRM, an individual waits for a conclusive grounds decision to be made as to whether they are or are not a victim of modern slavery. It should be provided after 45 days, but that is not usually the case. Home Office analysis shows that, in 2023, the median waiting time for a decision was 526 days. The median time for women and foreign nationals is even longer.