The number of potential victims of modern slavery in the care sector rose by 30% in 2023, new figures have revealed.

Calls by care workers reported by the Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline rose to 918 in 2023 up from 708 in 2022.

Justine Carter, director of Unseen and co-author of the report, said: “Modern slavery and exploitation are heinous crimes that have no place in a modern, progressive UK that cares about human rights.

“It is encouraging that we are continuing to see rising numbers of calls and contacts to the Helpline, indicating that we are succeeding in raising awareness of the issue and mobilising more people to act.”

Further findings from the survey included an 11% rise in labour cases to 516 from 464 in 2022 and a 21% rise in potential victims of criminal exploitation to 385 from 317 in the previous year.

The sharp rise in potential victims in the care sector coincided with the almost doubling of health and social care visas issued in 2023 to almost 150,000 after the addition of care workers to the Shortage Occupation List in February 2022.

The Unseen report covers potential victims from 106 countries, up from 99 in 2022. The most common nationalities reported as being potential victims were Indian, Romanian, Albanian, Vietnamese, and Chinese.

India was the most prevalent potential victim nationality for the first time, predominantly due to labour exploitation within the care sector.