I was forced to work unpaid and never let out of the house. Modern slavery is all around us in the UK

“There was no freedom to go out of the house,” Loretta explains. “No freedom like a normal person should have.”

Loretta, a 28-year-old nurse from Nigeria, is a survivor of modern slavery, forced to work without breaks for an employer who took her passport and held her visa status over her head.

She claimed her harrowing story, however, is far from an isolated case, with modern slavery “happening all around us” in the UK.

Loretta graduated from nursing school in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2018, finding a job working for a family who had quadruplets, with one of the babies needing more support after he was born with a hole in his heart. She took care of the babies at their home and came with the family when they relocated to the UK. 

Loretta, who was in the UK on a six-month visa, planned to take her nursing exams and start a new life after working for the family, who had promised to renew her visa after six months.

“The first signs that something wasn’t right started when we got to the airport,” she explained. “The mother started speaking to me in a very different way. But at first I told myself that she was maybe just stressed from the relocation, and everything that was happening.”

She explained that when they arrived in the UK, her employer took her passport, and she was made to work with the four babies with no breaks.

“The only time I get to sleep is when the babies are calm or sleeping. As long as they are awake, I’m awake, and I’m taking care of them. I had no breaks and there was no freedom to go out of the house,” she said.

“At the end of the first month, I wasn’t paid. And then at the end of two months, I wasn’t paid. At the end of three months, I wasn’t paid. This continued, and we were approaching the time when my six-month visa was going to expire. There was no discussion about my visa and how it was going to be renewed. I was really worried – I had a career to pursue, and I knew that it was illegal to let your visa expire.”

She explained that after raising these issues, her employer became “violent” and physically abusive.

“I was very scared, and I knew I had to find a way to leave. It was no longer safe there,” she said. “I picked up just my small bag and my laptop, and I told her that I was leaving the house, and I would no longer stay there.”

After an altercation, Loretta finally managed to leave.

• We took the Home Office to task for lying on modern slavery. We still don’t have answers
• Reports of forced labour, sex trafficking and domestic servitude at record high in Britain

Loretta called a friend for help, who reported her situation to the police; she had accommodation arranged for her, where she was able to study for her English exams.

“That was a very hard time, I was living on £5 a week and felt depressed, frustrated and very sad. But I just had to tell myself: you have to carry on.

“I started preparing for my English exam, and saved up money to pay for it in cash – I had to literally post the money to them. I wrote the English exam and I passed. The next step was to take the national exam – which I passed as well.”

She got a job in the NHS in Hampshire, and she now lives and works in Worcester as a nurse. 

“Proving my right to work in the UK was complicated and my support worker at the time didn’t really understand either,” she explained. “But then I got a new support worker, and she gave me a letter that the Home Office had sent six months earlier, confirming that my visa was extended, meaning I had the right to continue working. I was able to send it to the hospital, and from that they were able to give me a certificate of sponsorship, which I used to apply for a work visa.”

She received support from the charity Migrant Help, where she is now a trustee. 

“I wanted to give my voice to support people that might be in a similar situation to the one that I’d found myself in, and use that voice to help… So I joined, and it’s been like a family to me,” she said. “I met people with similar stories to mine and we’ve been able to accomplish many things.”

‘A lot more needs to be done’ to help modern slavery survivors

Loretta explained that “a lot more needs to be done” to help survivors of modern slavery, highlighting the need for more comprehensive mental health care.

“We have so many charities like Migrant Help… a lot of charities are there to support victims of modern day slavery, but I feel like a lot more needs to be done,” she said.

She explained that it took about one year for her to have access to a counsellor to talk through her “traumatic” experience, by which point she had already “processed” a lot of what she had been through.

“I’ve gone through the whole process of grieving… I’ve been depressed, I have been emotionally traumatised, and it took a period of one year for me to get access to counsellor,” she said.

“In terms of mental health support, a lot more needs to be done. We need more support for victims of modern day slavery, and they need support especially within the period of the first six months,” she explained, adding that after a year, some people’s mental health could have “deteriorated”.

Loretta’s story has inspired part of Migrant Help’s latest campaign to raise awareness of modern slavery. 

“I wanted to make life better and easy for future service users, people in similar situations as myself, because having passed through all of this, I have a picture of what the system is all about and the challenges of these people,” she told the Big Issue.

On Monday (2 December), which marks International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, Migrant Help released a video of its fake recruitment company “LockedIn Recruitment” when it appeared at the UK Careers Fair. The fake company displayed job roles designed to mimic the tactics used by traffickers, exposing the “reality of modern slavery in the UK”. 

LockedIn Recruitment, at what the charity describes as the “Unfair Jobs Fair”, advertised jobs based on experiences from survivors of modern slavery, for example a live-in nanny with no breaks, a seafarer forced to work 21 hours a day, and a waiter who endured physical discipline. 

The charity explained that the campaign highlights how “pervasive” modern slavery is across industries. 

Loretta, whose experience inspired the live-in nanny job role, explained that the campaign is “so important because it brings to light what so many people don’t realise – that modern slavery is happening all around us, often in plain sight.”

She told the Big Issue: “It’s important that we continue to discuss this topic as a society until people begin to recognise and know how to report modern day slavery cases.

“Even as we speak, there are so many people in similar situations that I was; it can be your neighbour, it can be the domestic workers that accompany people to hospital appointments. It can be someone sitting right next to you on the bus, it can happen to anyone.”

The charity explained that there is currently an estimated 122,000 people trapped in modern slavery in the UK, and the issue is increasing at a rate of 33% every year. It explained that for every one person saved from modern slavery, another seven are expected to be trapped.

Rabiya Ravat, director of modern slavery services at Migrant Help, explained: “Modern slavery is not just a problem overseas – it’s happening here, in the UK, in our towns and cities, and often to British citizens, too.”

Ravat added that the Unfair Jobs Fair aimed to “confront people with the reality that modern slavery can be hidden in ordinary places, often masquerading as legitimate work opportunities“. 

“We need people to recognise the signs of modern slavery and understand that help is available. Victims are often isolated, frightened, and unaware of their rights,” Ravat said.

“At Migrant Help, we work to provide support, guidance, and a safe space for survivors to rebuild their lives. The Unfair Jobs Fair is part of our ongoing mission to raise awareness, engage the public, and ultimately end modern slavery.”

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. This Christmas, you can make a lasting change on a vendor’s life. Buy a magazine from your local vendor in the street every week. If you can’t reach them, buy a Vendor Support Kit.

Big Issue is demanding an end to extreme poverty. Will you ask your MP to join us?