Modern slavery is hidden in plain sight on our high streets.The National Crime Agency thinks there are tens of thousands of people being exploited in the UK, forced to work long hours, for little or no pay, and under threat of violence.
Some of those people are being exploited in hand car washes, which in recent years have sprung up across the country in their thousands. Many of those hand car washes are legitimate businesses, but some of them are not. Police raids in hand car washes in towns and cities up and down the country have unearthed victims living in horrendous conditions.
Although law enforcement and the government are clear that this problem exists, there is no reliable data on just how widespread it is.This lack of information means that victims could be falling through the net,becoming more enmeshed in the cycle of exploitation.
The Clewer Initiative has spoken to the police, the NationalCrime Agency and the Gangmasters & Labour Abuse Authority about how theChurch can help them solve this and bring these hidden victims into the light.As a result they have developed the Safe Car Wash app. A new tool that willenable the largest community intelligence gathering exercise ever attempted inthe United Kingdom.
Download the free app onto your smartphone and then when youare using a hand car wash, simply open the app and complete a short surveyabout the working conditions of the car wash. The app will ask a series ofquestions related to the indicators of modern slavery and if there is a highlikelihood that modern slavery is occurring in the hand car wash, you will be askedto report your concerns to the Modern Slavery Helpline. Find out more at: www.theclewerinitiative.org/safecarwash
