Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy: fifth progress report

Section 4: Child Trafficking

The Child Trafficking Strategy Group (CTSG) brings together the specific elements of the three action areas which relate to children who are, or may be, victims of human trafficking and exploitation. For the purposes of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015, a child is defined as a person under 18 years of age.

The CTSG meets on a quarterly basis. The group is currently chaired by Guardianship Scotland. There is cross-membership between the CTSG and the three Action Area Implementation Groups to facilitate the co-ordination and sharing of information.

Membership of the group includes:

• Barnardo’s
• Child Protection Committees Scotland
• Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland
• City of Edinburgh Council
• Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)
• Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS)
• Every Child Protected Against Trafficking (ECPAT)
• East Dunbartonshire Council
• Glasgow City Council (Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership)
• Home Office
• JustRight Scotland
• NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHS GGC)
• Police Scotland
• Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration (SCRA)
• Scottish Government (Child Protection policy, Human Trafficking policy)
• Guardianship Scotland (Aberlour and Scottish Refugee Council)
• Railway Children
• Social Work Scotland
• University of Stirling Centre for Child Wellbeing and Protection.

Child Trafficking – fourth progress report

The fourth progress report identified a number of areas of work that the CTSG would continue to deliver. These included:

• launch the statutory Independent Child Trafficking Guardian service
• incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into domestic law, and continue implementing The Promise, and the Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC) approach
• deliver a series of workshops for practitioners to help raise awareness on child exploitation and trafficking in Scotland
• deliver training on implementation of the revised age assessment guidance
• work to develop a briefing paper on the criminal exploitation of children, young people and adults
• promote a Barnardo’s Scotland, Fearless and Police Scotland campaign regarding child criminal exploitation
• consider the impact of the UK Government’s New Plan for Immigration and the Nationality and Borders Bill on devolved age-assessment competencies and wider reforms on modern slavery.

This chapter provides an update on actions to take forward these and other CTSG workstreams, grouped across the three action areas.

Action Area 1: Identify victims and support them to safety and recovery

In April 2023, the Scottish Government launched Guardianship Scotland52, a new statutory Independent Child Trafficking Guardian (ICTG) service. Implementation of the service fulfils the duty on Scottish Ministers set out under Section 11 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015. It is now a statutory requirement for guardians to be appointed by the Service Provider to provide support to unaccompanied children arriving in Scotland who will have undergone an arduous migration alone and may have been a victim of or may be vulnerable to becoming a victim of human trafficking. This scope is considered necessary as, whilst in some circumstances it is clear that a child has been a victim of child trafficking, it is often difficult to establish directly if an unaccompanied child presenting in Scotland has been a victim.

Following a procurement exercise in 2022, the Scottish Government awarded the contract to run the new service to a consortium between Aberlour and the Scottish Refugee Council (SRC). The Scottish Government is providing nearly £1 million annually to fund the service which will initially run for three years. This was increased to £2.2 million annually in early 2024 due to an exceptional increase in numbers of young people arriving in Scotland requiring guardianship support.

Regulations enabling the ICTG service to launch in April 2023 were laid on 26 January 2023. These regulations set out requirements in relation to training and qualifications that are required to be a Guardian. Local authorities will also be required to provide access to relevant information relating to the child to enable the Guardian to carry out their functions effectively.

The Guardianship Scotland service replaces the former non-statutory service provided by the Scottish Guardianship Service53 (SGS). The SGS provided legal and practical support to unaccompanied children and young people, who were victims, or at risk, of trafficking, and this has continued. This highly regarded service was part-funded by the Scottish Government with a total of £3.2 million provided since its launch in 2010.

Guardianship Scotland has adapted their service model to manage the increased numbers of children and young people being accommodated across Scotland in a larger geographical area. Guardians are based in Inverness, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow to ensure children can receive face to face support. The benefits of having a regional model and guardians based across Scotland has increased capacity to upskill Local Authorities and care providers in relation to Human Trafficking and the National Referral Mechanism and supporting the needs of children and young people who have been trafficked and exploited.

The regional model supports:

• stronger inter-agency relationships and networks of support for young people. The regional model provides consistent points of contact for Guardians and involved professionals within each local authority, resulting in better working relationships, clearer communication, improved safeguarding responses and consistent ways of working together
• deeper knowledge of local resources and entitlements within Local Authority areas. This improves our ability to connect young people with specialist local services increasing protective factors for young people and helping them get the right support when they need it
• improved internal communication and efficiency. Smaller, regional teams enable teams to quickly identify critical issues, gather information, identify trends and share best practice
• better resource allocation. Every regional team member builds an in-depth understanding of cases within their region enabling joint and group work where required. There is less duplication of resources including Guardians’ travel time and costs.

SGS were successful in securing continued funding through the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) until December 2023. The AMIF project “Integrating Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking and Trafficked Children into Scottish Communities” continues to enhance the service by increasing the number of Guardians available to deal with the escalating level of new arrivals and ongoing caseloads, extend integration support and deliver participation activities. This has included extending funding for Befriending Young Refugees, which matches unaccompanied children and young people with a trained volunteer befriender to help support their recovery and reduce social isolation. The Befriending Service has since ceased operations in 2024 due to a reduction in funding.

In 2022, SGS established the Young People’s Voices group. Young people meet monthly to learn about their rights and life in Scotland, and ensure young people’s voices are heard in a meaningful way. The group have voiced their opinions on topics including education, healthcare, the asylum process, the care system, and their rights. The service has also supported young people to engage in research on their experiences of support as survivors of child trafficking in Scotland: Stirling University’s Improving Survivor-Informed Support for Children and Young People affected by Trafficking54, the international Drawing Together Project55 and Every Child Protected Against Trafficking’s Creating Stable Futures56.

In April 2021, Glasgow City Council (GCC) became the only Scottish local authority to join the Home Office devolving child decision-making pilot programme. The purpose of the pilot is to test whether determining if a child is a victim of trafficking within existing child protection structures is a more appropriate model than within the National Referral Mechanism. The Scottish Government worked with GCC and the Home Office to produce Scotland-specific guidance57 which takes account of the nuances of Scottish child protection processes and procedures. The pilot decision-making timescales are averaging around 60 days to make a conclusive grounds decision which is making a positive improvement in this process. It means that young people receive better-quality decisions timeously and also provides an opportunity for guardians to contribute any relevant information into the decision-making process. The Home Office is progressing work to consider potential next steps in the pilot.

To support the Programme, the Scottish Anti-Trafficking & Exploitation Centre (SATEC) at JustRight Scotland and Barnardo’s designed and delivered online training sessions into areas of risk and concern in relation to child trafficking on behalf of Glasgow’s Child Protection Committee. SATEC has also been working with partners to create a suite of online learning materials, briefings, and webinars to support continued learning and development in the area of identifying child victims of trafficking.

Some members of the Child Trafficking Strategy Group contributed to the child’s section of the OSCE NRM handbook58 in 2022. The updated handbook incorporates expertise gained from work on child trafficking in Scotland, drawing on the National Guidance for Child Protection (2021), the national “getting it right for every child” (GIRFEC) policy, and the Scottish Guardianship Service.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Psychological Trauma Service continued to provide specialised mental health support to child victims of trafficking living in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, within the remit or their core work. This service is delivered remotely or in person. The support addresses the impact of trauma on mental health and supports child victims of trafficking recovery and wellbeing. Strategic partnership work is done at local and national levels to further advance the vision of Scotland becoming trauma informed and trauma responsive.

Further to this, the Wellbeing Project has continued to be delivered in partnership with Glasgow Psychological Trauma Service and Guardianship Scotland. This project has been developed to build individual and community resilience, providing young people who have been victims of trafficking with coping strategies to help them manage symptoms of trauma. Additional groups and one-to-one support have been delivered including sleep workshops, art groups and relationships workshops. The project has supported 105 young people from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022 and 96 young people from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 and 141 young people from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

A revision of the Scottish Government’s Practice Guidance on Age Assessment began in December 2022 to reflect the changes to age assessment introduced in the UK Government’s Nationality and Borders Act 2021. The Scottish Government established a Review Group with key experts and operational partners. A decision was taken in May 2023 to pause the update in light of the proposed changes to age assessment introduced by the UK Government’s Illegal Migration Act. The Scottish Government reviewed this decision in July 2024 and is committed to publishing a partial update to the guidance in early 2025.

The Scottish Government funded the delivery of training sessions for first-line practitioners on age-assessment practice guidance in February and March 2022. The sessions were developed in partnership with COSLA and delivered by JustRight Scotland and Immigration Social Work Services. A similar series of training sessions has been delivered between April and May 2024, as well as in November 2024.

The Scottish Government has been working with COSLA and other stakeholders on the scaling up of the UK Government’s national transfer scheme (NTS). As of October 2024, over 630 unaccompanied children have been accommodated in Scottish local authorities via the NTS. This is in addition to the numbers of unaccompanied young people who arrive “spontaneously”, and hundreds more care experienced young people who are 18 or older, who arrived in Scotland as unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC). Social Work Scotland has supported the development of policy and practice in relation to UASC, including considerations in relation to assessment and responses for children at risk of being trafficked.

JustRight Scotland’s Scottish Refugee & Migrant Centre (SRMC) continues to work with children requiring advice in relation to trafficking and exploitation, asylum, and age disputes. Direct casework with unaccompanied children now covers around 20 local authority areas, reaching areas where there is limited or no other legal service provision. The SRMC also provided an extensive range of professional, legal training across the country to social workers, third sector agencies, and legal professionals on issues relating to trafficking and exploitation.

In August 2023 the Scottish Government updated the National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland59 which was published in 2021. The Guidance includes advice on identifying and supporting victims of child trafficking and exploitation and reflects learning from recent cases. Following publication in 2021, a National Child Protection Guidance Implementation Group was established for a period of two years to provide strategic oversight and offer support to local areas to implement the Guidance. In September 2023, as a result of the work of the Guidance Implementation Group, updates to the Guidance have now been published. National multi-agency Inter-agency Referral Discussion (IRD) training is also being developed as part of its implementation. The training will support more consistent IRD practice across local areas.

The National Joint Investigative Interview (NJII) team is a partnership with Police Scotland, Social Work Scotland and COSLA. The partnership continues to roll out the Scottish Child Interview Model60 across Scotland. The interview sits within an overarching investigative strategy, usually agreed by way of an Interagency Referral Discussion (IRD). Bespoke Interview Plans are developed by interviewers; supported by those who know the child well, including family members and any involved services. Planning takes specific account of the support needs for the child. The investigative interview is conducted according to the Interview Plan and interviewers respond to the child’s needs throughout, adjusting the interview plan accordingly. Following the interview, analysis of the information and evidence obtained in interview is used to inform decision-making around care and protection for the child (and any other children). The interview contributes to the protection of the child (and any other children) and captures evidence that can be used for ongoing care and protection planning as well as any relevant court proceedings via the Criminal Justice System or the Children’s Hearing System.

Some local authorities have begun exploring and implementing a Contextual Safeguarding approach as part of their implementation of the National Guidance for Child Protection. Contextual Safeguarding61 is an approach which seeks to identify and respond to harm and abuse that individuals experience outwith their family environment. A self-evaluation exercise by CPC Scotland identified that Contextual Safeguarding is an area of future development in local areas, and that there is appetite to exchange ideas and learn from one other.

The UNCRC (Incorporation) (Scotland) Act 202462 fully commenced in July 2024, which means that we have directly incorporated the UNCRC into our domestic law in Scotland – within the limits of our devolved competence. The original Bill was passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament in 2021 but could not receive Royal Assent due to a referral to the Supreme Court by the UK Law Officers. An amended Bill was approved by the Scottish Parliament on 7 December 2023, received Royal Assent in January 2024 and the key provisions commenced on 16 July 2024.

The intent behind the UNCRC Act is to deliver a proactive culture of everyday accountability for children’s rights across public services in Scotland. The UNCRC Act makes it unlawful for public authorities, including the Scottish Government, to act incompatibly with the UNCRC requirements as set out in the Act. It also introduces a new ability for children, young people and their representatives to use the courts to enforce their rights.

Implementation of a national Bairns’ Hoose model63 is a key action identified in the Keeping The Promise Implementation Plan and in the 2022 Programme for Government and aims to uphold children’s rights and promote recovery. The Scottish Government is working with partners to establish a Scottish approach and consulted on draft Bairns’ Hoose Standards in 2022. The final standards64 were published in May 2023 and will provide a blueprint for delivery. We also published a suite of documents in June 2023: our Refreshed Vision, Values and Approach65; Children and Young People Participation and Engagement Plan66 and Bairns’ Hoose Project Plan Progress Report and Pathfinder Delivery Plan67. The Scottish Government is investing £6m in 2023-2024 to establish Pathfinder Partnerships to test the Bairns’ Hoose Standards in different contexts to enable the design of a national Bairns’ Hoose model. This is part of a three-phased approach for the development of Bairns’ Hoose which builds in the necessary stages for learning and evaluation to enable the achievement of our ambition. The first phase, the Pathfinder phase, commenced in 2023.

Action Area 2: Identify perpetrators and disrupt their activity

UK national children show the largest increase in identification as victims of trafficking and exploitation. As a result, a workstream has been set up by the National Human trafficking Unit (NHTU), supported by Police Scotland’s Child Protection Policy Team to embed the identification and pursuit of perpetrators of Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE).

Police Scotland continue to focus efforts on identifying organised criminal networks involved in exporting illegal drugs into one or more importing areas (within the UK), described as County Lines. This includes the creation of a dedicated County Lines Unit in the City of Edinburgh police division. A key strand of action is raising awareness of the exploitation of children and vulnerable adults by serious and organised crime groups across the UK. In Scotland, this awareness raising has taken place through briefings and training inputs to front line officers. County Lines Coordinators and Analysts assess and manage all intelligence related to County Lines to ensure a proactive and appropriate response, and bespoke training is provided to specialist officers.

Barnardo’s Scotland collaborated with Fearless Scotland, the Scottish youth programme of independent charity Crimestoppers Scotland, to launch a campaign focused on raising awareness of county lines when criminal gangs set up a drug dealing operation outside their usual area. This collaboration included partners Network Rail and Police Scotland and launched late February 2023 as part of county lines intensification week. As part of this campaign, Barnardo’s Scotland supported the creation of anonymised stories based on the real-life experiences of young people in Scotland as well as a podcast for adults looking after or working with young people to support them to better spot the signs and understand the impact.

The Divert Strand of Scotland’s Serious Organised Crime Strategy aims to prevent exploitation of children and young people by serious organised crime and provide opportunities to divert them from such involvement. As part of this work, the Divert 3 subgroup have produced a Practitioner’s Brief68 for those involved in the protection of children and vulnerable adults. This brief provides practitioners with advice and guidance on how to identify the signs of criminal exploitation, including CCE, and know what to do when they have concerns. Work is also underway by the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce’s Steering Group to assess current systems for protecting children and vulnerable adults, and to identify where there may be gaps that make them vulnerable to criminal exploitation.

In February 2022, to correspond with Safer Internet Day, the Scottish Government launched a major new online safety public awareness campaign, which was aimed at advising the parents and carers of children aged 8-11 on how to help keep children safe online. This campaign reached around 92% of parents and carers of children in that age group in Scotland. Of those taking part in an online evaluation survey, more than nine out of ten participants who were aware of the campaign reported taking action as a result of it. As part of the campaign, the Scottish Government also launched a new Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Hub on the Scottish Government’s Parent Club website, focused on helping parents and carers spot the signs of abuse. The campaign was repeated in February 2023, reinforcing this important messaging and reached over 900,000 people during the three-week duration of the campaign.

Case Study – Craig

Child Criminal Exploitation

Craig is 14 years old and has been living with his maternal grandparents in a kinship placement since the age of 12 due to concerns of domestic abuse and parental addictions. He has regular contact with his mother who does not live at the family home, and some contact with his father. Craig is supported by social work services.

Craig had to change school when he moved to his grandparents and found the transition difficult. Craig’s peer and friendship group changed and he found it difficult to fit in. His attendance began to drop at the start of second year and he has been involved in anti-social behaviour in school and the local community. Craig used to enjoy music and sports but no longer engages in social or community activities.

Craig’s gran notices changes in Craig’s behaviour over a few weeks. He has been leaving the family home at different times of the day without explaining where he is going and often leaves suddenly after receiving a message or call on his mobile phone. Gran is also worried that he may be using cannabis, as she recently found a small bag of what she thinks is cannabis in his room. She does not know where he is getting this from.

Timeline of events leading to identification

• December 2023 – Craig’s pastoral care teacher raises concerns as she has heard other pupils saying Craig is in a gang and has made threats to another pupil over money. Craig’s gran has a tracker on his phone and found that he has been travelling to areas where he has no relatives or connections to.
• January 2024 – Police apprehended two young males after observing them exchange an item between individuals. Craig was found to be in possession of 10 small plastic envelopes, believed to contain cannabis. There were an additional five plastic envelopes containing white tablets. The other young male was searched and was found to be in possession of further quantities of substances and a sum of money (£300). Craig also had two mobile phones in his possession.
• January 2024 – Inter-agency Referral Discussion (IRD) held as there is reason to believe Craig may have been exploited.

Information shared at IRD

• Health – emotional health and wellbeing concerns. Graig’s gran has reported low mood. GP referral made regarding undiagnosed neurodiversity.
• Police – information includes three previous recent Interim Vulnerable Persons Database (iVPD) including vandalism and anti-social behaviour.
• Education – reports from teachers (as above)

Decisions of IRD

• Consider Joint Investigative Interview
• Police refer to Sexual Harm and Exploitation Unit (SHEU)
• Child Protection Planning Meeting to be arranged
• Interim safety plan agreed
• Add to multi-agency city-wide monthly exploitation meeting for ongoing discussion and monitoring
• Submit referral to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM)

Child Protection Planning Meeting held

Child Protection Plan agreed. This includes a referral to Action for Children (third sector), education supports, referral to CAMHS, and social work support for family/ kinship placement. Police to consider a Single Point of Contact (SPOC).

Home Office Decision-Making

Reasonable Grounds for Criminal Exploitation agreed following NRM referral. However, additional information is required to consider Conclusive Grounds. This should include a further social work assessment, police information, and/or any relevant connections identified by other agencies. For example, contextual safeguarding information, including the young person’s relationships with peers and adults, locations they have been found, and the circumstances surrounding these situations.

Action Area 3: Address the conditions that foster trafficking and exploitation

Police Scotland is in the early planning phase of a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in-person event on Child Exploitation which will cover both sexual and criminal exploitation, trafficking and exploitation in the online environment.

Through Police Scotland’s Child Exploitation Working Group, awareness raising took place during March 2023 to tie in with National Child Sexual Exploitation Awareness Day. Barnardo’s Advisors are now embedded within Police Scotland’s Public Protection Unit for early review and assessment of any cases of exploitation of children. The advisors provide support, advice and guidance to police but are also available to work and support any identified child at risk of exploitation.

Information sharing across Child Protection Committees continues to develop. Local Exploitation and Trafficking protocols have been developed and shared in part due to an increase in County Lines operations, as well as the increasing number of UASC who are living in Scotland.

The Scottish Government provided funding to Aberlour Child Care Trust, to deliver their Ukrainian Children and Host Family Service. The service now sits under Aberlour’s Independent Child Trafficking Guardianship Service (Guardianship Scotland) and can provide information, guidance, and support for unaccompanied children and young people, accompanying adults (where applicable), and their hosts.