The Independent Modern Slavery Advocate® (IMSA®) Project Board are delighted to announce that we have been successful in our application for National Lottery funding. The IMSA® Project Board represents Hope for Justice, British Red Cross, The Snowdrop Project, Bakhita Centre for Research on Slavery, Exploitation and Abuse at St. Mary’s University, and SOHTIS.
The IMSA® Project will receive just under £1million (£999,850) over four years from The National Lottery Community Fund. This funding will go towards a shared ambition for survivors of modern slavery across the UK to have access to an accredited independent advocate.
Bethan Hunt, IMSA® Model Development Manager, said: “This is truly brilliant news. I have witnessed the hugely positive impact IMSAs have when working alongside survivors of modern slavery. As a project team, we are deeply passionate about every survivor having access to a trained independent advocate to work alongside in their recovery journey. This funding will enable more IMSAs to work across the country, providing long-term, standardised advocacy. We are so excited to move into this next phase. I encourage any organisation that is passionate about survivors having the opportunity to work with an advocate to reach out and get involved in this inspiring project.”
An IMSA® provides independent advocacy from both a social and legal perspective. This empowers survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking to make informed choices about their entitlements and recovery. Independent advocates work in a trauma-informed way, directed by survivors who decide which areas of their lives they would benefit from working with an advocate and for how long. From our experience, this is often wide ranging, spanning across housing, physical and mental health, employment, education, asylum and immigration.
IMSAs with a survivor. Library image.
The IMSA® role was created in response to a well-documented gap in how the UK responds to human trafficking and how it treats survivors. Independent advocacy is also strongly recommended by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), which says: “Adult victims of trafficking should have an allocated advocate to provide individual support, needs and risks assessment, and to act as a co-ordinating focal point for all involved professionals and services.”
Survivors of other serious crimes – such as domestic violence, sexual violence and stalking – can access trained advocates through the roles of IDVAs, ISVAs and ISASs. This new National Lottery funding provides the opportunity for survivors of modern slavery to have access to independent advocacy in an equivalent way.
This National Lottery Community Fund will enable:
- The development of accredited IMSA® Training that is to be delivered by the Bakhita Centre for Research on Slavery, Exploitation and Abuse at St. Mary’s University. Standardisation of the IMSA® role is a critical step in ensuring survivors can feel confident in the level of advocacy they receive, regardless of where they are in the UK.
- Testing of the IMSA® model in a range of settings and locations across England to further strengthen the model. This will begin with IMSA Project Partners recruiting and training new IMSAs in September 2025. This first cohort will be joined by a second and third cohort of IMSAs, who will be employed within a wide range of organisations, including NGOs, local authorities, faith groups and community groups. We strongly encourage any organisation interested in employing an IMSA to get in touch.
- The creation of the IMSA® Model Hub, which is an essential component of the model’s infrastructure and is critical to achieving best practice. This Hub will be hosted by Hope for Justice and it will coordinate and support the work of all IMSAs and the organisations employing IMSAs. The Hub will provide monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning, and have oversight of the IMSA Model to ensure the project’s values are upheld.
This funding represents a significant milestone for the IMSA® Project. The Project Board continues to work to secure dedicated funding specific to each devolved nation in collaboration with key stakeholders in each nation. Project Board member SOHTIS is the first co-opted board member representing the devolved nations.
More than 40 experts from across the anti-trafficking sector came together in Glasgow in September 2024 to discuss how the IMSA model could work in Scotland.
The members of the IMSA® Project Board are hugely appreciative of the survivor leaders, stakeholders, volunteers and the National Lottery for their support and contributions to the ongoing development of the IMSA® model.
As we move towards this next exciting phase of the project, we encourage any organisation interested in joining the pilot phase and becoming an IMSA hosting organisation to contact advocacy.imsa@hopeforjustice.org
Learn more about the IMSA® project to date at these links:
