Why Yorkshire human trafficking survivor’s dream of becoming a nurse needs a fundraising page

A crowdfunder has raised thousands of pounds to help a human trafficking survivor living in Yorkshire pursue her dream of qualifying as a nurse. Chris Burn reports.
A Yorkshire trafficking survivor is hoping to fund the next stage of her education. Picture posed by model. Picture: PAA Yorkshire trafficking survivor is hoping to fund the next stage of her education. Picture posed by model. Picture: PA
A Yorkshire trafficking survivor is hoping to fund the next stage of her education. Picture posed by model. Picture: PA

Three years on from escaping her captors, human trafficking survivor Emma has made extraordinary progress in starting a new chapter of life in Yorkshire.  

Originally from Albania, Emma (not her real name) was in her mid-20s and initially spoke little English after getting her freedom in winter 2017 and being placed in a safe house.

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She has gone on to master the language, gain academic qualifications and participate in a wide array of volunteering work while living with the restrictions placed upon asylum seekers. These include not being allowed paid employment or to open a bank account, while living on an allowance of £37.75 a week.

Jane Williamson has arrange the online fundraising page. Picture: Jonathan GawthorpeJane Williamson has arrange the online fundraising page. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe
Jane Williamson has arrange the online fundraising page. Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe

But even with the Home Office officially confirming her to be a victim of human trafficking in June after a two-and-a-half year wait for a decision, Emma is still waiting on whether she will be allowed to remain in this country – meaning that her plan to take the next step towards her dream of becoming a nurse has been put on hold.

“I have been in limbo for three years now,” she explains over the phone. “I have been trying not to waste my time and learn the language and do different courses. My dream is to become a nurse so I just want to move on with my education.”

Living in Sheffield, she has undertaken as many training courses as possible – from learning English to doing translation courses. Emma, now 29, was also one of the first graduates of the pioneering Free Thinking programme run by Northern College on the outskirts of Barnsley, which support survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking to rebuild their lives after liberation by teaching things like IT skills, creative writing and history.

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She has gone on to gain a Level 2 diploma in Social Sciences and even passed GCSE English, a language she could barely speak three years ago.

But the next step she hopes to take – a Level 3 diploma which would open the door to going onto university – has been frustrated for the time being by being ineligible to apply for a student loan or adult learning grant until a final decision is made on whether she qualifies for asylum.

Emma says it is not safe for her to return to Albania, where she says she was the victim of sexual abuse at the hands of a close family member and would be separately under threat from both other members of the family and the trafficking gang if she returned.

“The traffickers threatened me when I was in their hands that if I do something wrong it will cost me my life. Even though I escaped I still hear their voices and threats in my head.”

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Emma says many others are facing similar plights as they wait for years for decisions on whether they will be allowed to remain in the UK. “They say you are getting some assistance to live on, you are free – but it is not a life. You need to be able to move on. I think the Government just treat us as asylum seekers and not as the human beings that we are. There are lots of people in this situation, it is not just me. It is good to learn and get new skills and be able to help other people. It just gives you hope that a better future is coming and that you can try and forget the past. I do know people who have been in this country waiting for a decision for eight to 10 years. They are still in limbo and in a nightmare.”

There is some hope in Emma’s case – Jane Williamson, one of her former teachers at the Northern College Free Thinking course, has launched a fundraising page in an attempt to raise £3,500 to cover course fees, travel and transport, books and internet access.

Williamson’s appeal has raised more than £2,200 to date and she says Emma truly deserves the chance to pursue her ambitions. “She always has a smile on her face but you can tell she has been through a lot. I have got a lot of admiration for her – she keeps going and fighting when other people would have stopped.”

Williamson, an expert in survivor education, says the case is symptomatic of the challenges that face many survivors. “The level of support is just not enough for people to rebuild their lives. She is just one of many students I have met who want to study a Level 3 diploma and want to go to university for the education they have been denied.”

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When the Government passed the Modern Slavery Act in March 2015, then Home Secretary Theresa May hailed it as an historic piece of legislation and shortly after becoming Prime Minister, set up a Government task force after setting out the scale of the issue where she described the scale of the issue, affecting an estimated 10,000 to 13,000 victims in the UK.

“From nail bars and car washes to sheds and rundown caravans, people are enduring experiences that are simply horrifying in their inhumanity,” May said.

“Vulnerable people who have travelled long distances believing they were heading for legitimate jobs are finding they have been duped, forced into hard labour, and then locked up and abused. Innocent individuals are being tricked into prostitution, often by people they thought they could trust. Children are being made to pick-pocket on the streets and steal from cash machines.”

She went on to promise: “Just as it was Britain that took an historic stand to ban slavery two centuries ago, so Britain will once again lead the way in defeating modern slavery.”

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But reality does not appear to have matched the fine rhetoric when it comes to providing support to identified victims.

Delays in decisions under the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) – the Home Office-funded and managed process for identifying victims of modern slavery – were highlighted in 2017 by the National Audit Office. Under the NRM, an initial decision is supposed to be taken within five days of a potential victim being identified by an official ‘first responder’ such as a police officer, with an aim of reaching a final determination within 45 days.

The NAO pointed out that decisions were taking an average of 134 days – with asylum claims put on hold while that consideration is taking place. In Emma’s case, she had to wait for over two-and-half years.

Even getting that decision offers no guarantee of being able to stay in the country. In 2015, 21 per cent of those confirmed as victims of modern slavery were granted asylum, with 12 per cent granted ‘discretionary leave to remain’ to stay in the UK for a temporary period of time.

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Kate Roberts, UK and Europe Programme Manager for human rights organisation Anti-Slavery International, says: “For many survivors, to be given a positive decision and told they have been believed but at the same time told ‘please make arrangements to leave the UK’ is a very shocking thing.

“We don’t really know what the reason is for delays. Obviously you don’t want rushed or poor decision making but at the same time it doesn’t seem right to have slow decision making. It keeps people in limbo. Even from the economic side, it is expensive.”

She says the current system plays into the hands of traffickers.

“Until you get that positive first stage decision, you don’t get any entitlement to support at all. The initial decision should take five days but it is often a lot longer than that. You are outside the system. Exploiters will often say, ‘where are you going to go, you are to going to be homeless’. It is a big leap of faith you are asking of people.”

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Anti-Slavery International is pushing for a law change - whose cross-party supporters include former Conservative leader Iain Duncan-Smith - that would see victims of modern slavery given the right to access support in the UK for a year as soon as they are confirmed as victims, with access to public funds.

Roberts says: “It is five-and-a-half years since the Modern Slavery Act - I really hope the Government will see the system as it is isn’t working. If you are going to have a system that identifies people, it needs to be a system that provides a pathway to rebuilding lives.

“It does happen but it only happens when the right structures are in place. People who have survived trafficking tend to have shown great initiative. When people have rebuilt their lives it is became they given a genuine chance to do so.

“It is clearly not right that people who have trusted the authorities, come forward, gone through the system and all its delays receive a positive decision that is unlikely to meaningfully support them to rebuild their lives. Survivors have talked of this as a real betrayal. We hope government will show real leadership and give time and support to the modest and decent proposals within the Modern Slavery Victim Support Bill.”

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Catherine Gladwell, chief executive of the Refugee Support Network charity, says situations like Emma’s are sadly common among many young asylum seekers who are frustrated in their attempts to access Higher or Further Education.

“At Refugee Support Network, everything we do is about supporting young asylum seekers and refugees to progress in their education. We work with about 500 people young people each year. Many of them are facing some challenge with either getting into education or progressing their education.

“If we had more resources, we would be supporting even more people - we constantly have waiting lists.”

She says the organisation has received 500 calls to its Higher Education helpline in a year.

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“The most common kind of call is ‘I have got a place at university, I’m just about to be charged international student fees’. They are not able to get a student loan or any student finance. For the majority without access to student finance, it just won’t be possible.

“A lot of these young people had been about to start university in their country of origin and were torn away from home. A lot of Syrian young people are in that situation - Syria did have one of the best higher education systems but because of the civil war they had to flee. They are just desperate to continue their education and want to contribute their skills to their new home.

“We have young people still waiting for final decisions for close to a decade. We have young people who have just had barrier after barrier to overcome and this is just the latest one in a series of barriers.”

Gladwell says while some universities offer what are known as ‘sanctuary scholarships’, the chances of securing one are low.

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“It is very, very difficult to get one of those scholarships. There are some universities that offer ten but the standard if one or two - it is very competitive. If you get a scholarship, it is a huge achievement.”

Gladwell adds: “The number of young people that have said ‘education is the key to my future’ is probably 80 to 90 per cent of the young people we work with. One of them said to me recently ‘education is like carrying a light to see the way ahead’. If you take away a young person’s chance, you are taking away their opportunity to build a better future and their ability to even imagine a better future. That is a huge thing to take away from a young person, particularly a young person who will have experienced more difficulties than most of us will face in our lives.”

While Emma continues to wait over her asylum application, she is still grateful to have people like Jane Williamson in her life and says she has been stunned by the fundraising support she has received so far.

“It is amazing, I couldn’t believe it. Hopefully we will reach the goal. No one knows what will happen next but I’m hoping I will get a decision and then be able to carry on with my studies.

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“I would really like to be a nurse in this country and just have a normal life, feel safe and not have to run. I have survived so many things from a very young age and I’m still thinking there is a future. I’m just working hard to achieve something in my life and be better.”

Visit www.gofundme.com/f/survivor-of-trafficking-education-appeal for more information or to support the appeal.

Government ‘acting at every level’

Home Secretary Priti Patel says the Government is “acting at every level to tackle modern slavery, ensuring that victims are supported to rebuild their lives and the criminals and perpetrators of slavery face justice for their crimes and activities”.

In the foreword to a Home Office report on the issue published this week, Patel writes: “The Covid-19 pandemic has intensified our work to ensure that victims continue to have access to essential support.

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“Changes have been introduced to address vulnerabilities and we have worked in collaboration with the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, the police, and the National Crime Agency to protect workers and raise awareness of the threat of modern slavery during the pandemic.”

In August 2019 the Home Office introduced a digital system to support the NRM process, with the aim of making it easier for those on the front line to refer victims for support by providing a single point for referrals across the UK. The Single Competent Authority, which is responsible for NRM decisions in the Home Office, is currently recruiting over 350 new team members across the UK to increase capacity for NRM decision-making. This will allow us to improve, and maintain, timeliness of these decisions for victims.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Government is committed to tackling the abhorrent crimes of human trafficking and modern slavery and giving victims the support they need to rebuild their lives.

“We aim to resolve all asylum claims as quickly as possible and have reformed the National Referral Mechanism to improve the speed of the decision making.”

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