Today, Kalayaan has published the first of five ‘mini reports’ on the right to work in the National Referral Mechanism (NRM).

“Ready, Willing & Able: The cost of not allowing survivors in the NRM to work” highlights the benefits to be gained by the UK and survivors of human trafficking and modern slavery if every adult in the NRM was granted the right to work.

Report 1 of the series sets out the current state of play for thousands of adult foreign nationals prevented from working due to arbitrary policies that prevent a ready, willing and able workforce from contributing to British society and from regaining their agency after having been exploited.

Report 2 will demonstrate how granting survivors of trafficking the right to work makes sense economically.

Report 3 will show how being allowed to work would facilitate recovery and diminish health and mental health issues of survivors in the NRM.

Report 4 will highlight how granting survivors of trafficking the right to work could reduce their risk of re-exploitation.

And, finally, Report 5 will set out the simple and cost-free way the UK Government can grant the right to work to this workforce.

Kalayaan’s Sophie Levack drafted this series of reports with Caroline Lewis of Saltworks Law. They have addressed this series of reports to MPs and launched the series at an event in Parliament today.

The rest of the reports will be published every two to three weeks, so stay tuned!

Many reports have been written on this subject by organisations in the sector. To give you background to this incredible work, we have summarised the reports into an Annex available here.