How our UK Advocacy Advice Service assists professionals and trafficking survivors

Hope for Justice has been working alongside survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking for over 15 years. Informed by the lived experience of survivors, we have developed a model for Independent Modern Slavery Advocacy that combines a trauma-informed approach with expertise in the legal and social systems that survivors must often navigate. 

Integral to this service are our Independent Modern Slavery Advocates® (IMSAs®) – trusted professionals who are a consistent point of contact for survivors, advocating for their needs and entitlements throughout their recovery.  

Our experience has led us to running a national IMSA Model pilot in the UK. Several organisations are now employing IMSAs as part of this project, with the view to all adult survivors being given access to an IMSA in the future. You can find out more about the pilot here: https://hopeforjustice.org/imsa/

Our Advocacy Advice Service is the gateway to all of Hope for Justice’s advocacy services and the IMSA model pilot. 

Hope for Justice provides specialist advice and signposting for modern slavery survivors across the UK. We also advise and upskill professionals across different sectors who engage with survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking. 

Advice queries can be about any issue relating to the recovery journey of a survivor. 

All enquiries are initially triaged by our Advocacy Advice team. This ensures we can provide the most appropriate level of engagement based on the needs of the survivor. 

We operate a three-tiered structure: signposting to other services or giving tailored advice (Tier 1), providing advocacy for a specific issue (Tier 2), or progressing to longer-term casework with an IMSA or Child Trafficking Transition Specialist (CTTS) (Tier 3). 

Some of these recent cases demonstrate the type of work we might carry out at Tier 1: 

Survivors may be advised to use our IMSA intervention service for issue-specific advocacy needs. This service may be appropriate when a survivor is unable to access local support from organisations, or where support is in place, but the issue is beyond the remit of their support professionals. 

For example, we advocated on behalf of a survivor, Emma*, via the intervention service, by liaising with the police, social services, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) and domestic abuse services, ensuring all professionals worked together towards meaningful outcomes for Emma and her daughter. 

Emma said: “No words would do justice to explain the support I’ve received from my IMSA at Hope for Justice. Without her help, support, advocacy, strength, and endless dedication to our case, I do not even want to think about where we would now be. I met her at a crucial moment: when I had been told by professionals that I had to prepare for the worst-case scenario for my daughter and I. My IMSA stepped in with the expertise, determination, and compassion that changed everything for us. Her ability to coordinate across agencies meant we weren’t just passed from service to service; we were supported, safeguarded, and given a clear path forward. The value of the advocacy service is beyond measure. I will forever be grateful to Hope for Justice and the incredible work they do. They didn’t just help us survive – they helped us reclaim our lives.” 

The Advocacy Intervention Service allows us to assist clients in the most individually appropriate way, building capacity to work with more survivors while still providing crucial independent advocacy where it is needed. Our Tier 2 intervention cases will have one or two advocacy needs that are often time-limited. Once these issues are resolved, we can take a step back and the client can continue their recovery independently, knowing they can contact us again in the future if they need to. 

Here are some other recent cases we have worked on within Tier 2: 

Hope for Justice’s Tier 3 service provides a dedicated IMSA to work with adult survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking in the UK. The service is not time-bound nor based on locality, which means IMSAs can build a trusted professional relationship with the client until their advocacy needs have been resolved. 

Survivors must often navigate multiple complex systems to access support. Many are simultaneously managing complex trauma, poor physical and/or mental health problems resulting from exploitation. These issues are often compounded by a lack of knowledge about modern slavery within the systems they must navigate, and of the support to which they are legally entitled. 

IMSAs work with and complement other professionals who support survivors, maintaining a ‘birds-eye view’ of the holistic needs of their clients. An IMSA does not replace a local case worker or victim navigator; these different roles are complementary, and all contribute to positive long-term outcomes for the survivor. 

IMSAs empower clients to make their own decisions by assisting them to understand the options available to them and overcome the barriers they face. IMSAs encourage clients in their recovery and advocate on their behalf when they are unable to advocate for themselves.  

Within Tier 3, we also have a Child Trafficking Transition Specialist (CTTS), who works specifically with young adult survivors and advocates for them as they transition from child to adult services. The CTTS role is also being incorporated into the IMSA model pilot. 

At Tier 3, there is a referral pathway into the IMSA model pilot, which allows survivors to be referred to work with IMSAs and CTTS in other organisations as appropriate. 

This is an example of a Tier 3 case we have worked on: Trafficking survivor granted refugee status after four years

To make an enquiry about advice or advocacy, email: advocacy.advice@hopeforjustice.org 

Alternatively, call 0300 008 8000 and request the advocacy advice service.