'Slavery in every British town and city' says the National Crime Agency

The previous estimate of 12,000 victims of human trafficking in UK is the 'tip of the iceberg' according to the National Crime Agency. The true figure 'is likely in the tens of thousands.'

'The more we look for modern slavery the more we find evidence of the widespread abuse of the vulnerable. The growing body of evidence we are collecting points to the scale being far larger than anyone had previously thought...People are being exploited on an hourly and daily basis. The full scale and extent of it, we don’t know. But what we have found is that in every medium-to-large town and every city in the UK, we have found evidence of vulnerable people being exploited.' said Will Kerr, the NCA’s Director of Vulnerabilities.

'As you go about your normal daily life and as you’re engaged in a legitimate economy accessing goods and services, there is a growing and a good chance you will come across a victim who has been exploited in one of those different sectors,' he continued.

Find out more about the NCA's concerns here