Nobody joins the third sector to deliver lean services with commercial edge. Least of all me – as a Salvation Army officer, I am a minister of religion, not an accountant. In the 14 years that we have been delivering the government’s Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract for England and Wales, we have learnt so much from the 24,500 adult survivors we have supported. The most surprising lesson of all is that compassion is cost effective.
As you would expect of any government contract, we have tough key performance indicators to meet; and naturally, our donors, whose generosity enables us to provide so much added value, expect us to use every donated pound carefully.
Ensuring KPIs are consistently met matches our commitment to helping survivors get the best outcomes from the services on offer. Speedy responses minimise re-exploitation risks and build trust in our services, which helps people engage. Our KPIs show that 95% of survivors are in safe housing within eight hours of the need being identified and 98% receive a personalised “journey plan” within five days.
The first step towards a cost-effective service grounded in compassion is taking time to listen. Learning from survivors has strengthened our contractual compliance and impact. Their input, through surveys, wellness audits and participating in research, drives improvements.
For example, survivors have directed how our safehouses provide wellness rooms, creative spaces, psychological care and practical life-skills programmes like budgeting and cookery. For survivors tricked into travelling abroad, the familiarity of the culture they left behind can build confidence and speed up recovery. It also helps them break down psychological barriers that their captors built up. We therefore help them nurture local cultural and faith-based connections.
Learning from those who need our help has been embedded into The Salvation Army’s approach for over 160 years. So many of our service innovations have started with a cup of tea; taking the time to understand a person’s journey to our door helps us understand what they need to recover. We set up the world’s first labour exchange in 1890 when we recognised the route out of poverty was being helped into work. Today, our Employment Plus Service specialises in helping those furthest from the job market, including modern slavery survivors.
"Being part of private and public sector networks that speed up access to resources is not just about efficiency but about recovery"
The second step is mobilising compassion. We call ourselves an army for a reason; our churches provide a steady stream of volunteers who put their faith into action by training so they can offer skilled support. For example, our volunteer drivers transport survivors from a place of safety to one of our contracted safe houses. These journeys can be long and at unpredictable times. I am always humbled by our volunteers’ willingness to step into roles with big responsibilities like advocacy and mentorship. Moreover, more than 600 Salvation Army charity shops, churches, and community networks provide free spaces for activities to improve survivors’ wellbeing, as well as clothing and furniture vouchers.
As we are a global church, we also have a network of in-country specialists who build resilience and awareness in at-risk communities and help survivors reintegrate into their home country – key to preventing re-exploitation.
Step three is making connections. We are embedded in communities across the UK – which helps our support workers advocate for survivors who might struggle to secure vital local authority or NHS services. Being part of private and public sector networks that speed up access to resources is not just about efficiency but about recovery. Piloting a trusted assessor scheme with local authorities, where our staff complete housing applications for survivors, has streamlined access to vital services. It has also reduced the trauma survivors face when repeatedly retelling their experiences to prove entitlement. One survivor, who, facing NHS delays, was helped to receive private counselling told us: “People underestimate how much we want forward momentum – mental health can be a huge barrier to this.”
Success for me will always be a survivor leaving our care with the confidence to restart the life they had stolen from them. But realising that our commitment to compassionate, survivor-centred collaboration is also cost effective inspires me to push further. Nobody joins the third sector to deliver lean services, but giving more people the best chance to recover; that’s a commercial edge I can sign up to.
Major Kathy Betteridge is director of anti trafficking and modern slavery for The Salvation Army