Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) Fourth Evaluation Report
GRETA’s fourth evaluation report on the United Kingdom, published on 5 May 2026, assesses the UK’s compliance with the Council of Europe Anti-Trafficking Convention between 2021 and 2025, with a focus on vulnerabilities to trafficking. For youth justice practitioners, the report highlights continuing concerns about the prosecution of trafficked children, the operation of the statutory defence, public order disqualification, and the identification of children who have been criminally exploited.
Details
GRETA remains concerned that children continue to be prosecuted for offences committed under compulsion as part of their exploitation. It recommends that the UK Government remove the ‘reasonable person’ test for child victims under section 45 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. GRETA notes that there is no guidance on how that test should differ for children in practice. It also criticises the exclusion of certain offences from the statutory defence, observing that many are offences children may be compelled to commit during exploitation. The Crime and Policing Bill would extend the list of excluded offences further.
The report records concerns raised by NGOs that children are sometimes denied the statutory defence on the basis that they ‘consented’ to offending, with insufficient attention paid to debt bondage. GRETA also notes the Court of Appeal’s judgment in ADG & Another [2023] EWCA Crim 1309, which overturned a refusal of the defence and confirmed that compulsion is not an element of the statutory defence for children.
GRETA also highlights the impact of public order disqualification under the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, which applies to children as well as adults. Once applied, a child may lose protection from removal, access to National Referral Mechanism support, and may have their identification as a victim terminated entirely. GRETA found examples of victims who had been convicted for offences committed as part of their trafficking and were subsequently disqualified.
The Crime and Policing Bill also proposes a standalone offence of child criminal exploitation (clause 40), carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment. GRETA’s wider findings on identification are also relevant: professionals were found to have inconsistent understandings of child trafficking and exploitation, contributing to under-referral to the National Referral Mechanism. GRETA states that training and guidance for those working with children in the criminal justice system remains insufficient.
Commentary
The report is a reminder that children who come before the criminal courts may also be victims of serious exploitation. For those representing children, GRETA’s findings support a careful, child-centred approach to instructions, evidence-gathering and case strategy. Practitioners should scrutinise whether children have been properly identified as victims, whether the statutory defence has been considered without importing adult concepts of ‘choice’ or ‘consent’, and whether any decision to prosecute or disqualify a child has properly taken account of their exploitation. The proposed child criminal exploitation offence may assist identification and safeguarding, but its practical value will depend on whether police, prosecutors, youth justice services and defence representatives are trained to recognise exploitation at an early stage and to respond in a way that protects, rather than criminalises, children.