Trafficking
'Trafficking' means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of a person, by means of the threat or use of force e.g. coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power, giving or receiving payments or benefits, to control another person for the purpose of exploitation.
'Exploitation' includes sexual exploitation, forced labour, domestic servitude and organ trafficking.
Trafficked victims are coerced or deceived by the person arranging their relocation, and are often subject to physical, sexual and mental abuse. A trafficked child is denied their human rights and forced into exploitation by the trafficker or person into whose control they are delivered. Trafficking does not necessarily mean moving someone to a different country, it can mean any distance, even within a few streets from where a child was previously living.
Children are not legally considered able to give 'consent' to their own exploitation so a child's consent to being trafficked is irrelevant and it is not necessary to prove coercion or any other inducement. A child is a person under the age of 18 years old.
The legal definition of 'trafficking' is found in the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Child trafficking is defined as the 'recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt' of a child for the purpose of exploitation.
SCSP fact sheets:
SCSP city-wide policy & procedures:
E-learning:
Useful national resources:
Other relevant information can be found on this website here: Information and resources or in the index on the left side of this page.
If you are concerned about a child or young person, follow this link: Referring a safeguarding concern to Children’s Social Care