Number of potential trafficking victims locked up in UK triples in four years

A report found 1,611 potential victims of trafficking were placed in immigration detention centres in 2021, up from 501 in 2017. Photograph: Peter Marshall/Alamy

The number of potential trafficking victims who have been detained by the Home Office has tripled in four years, according to a new report.

In 2017 501 referrals for potential victims of trafficking were made among people the Home Office placed in immigration detention centres. By last year the number of referrals of potential victims who had been detained had jumped to 1,611.