Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 62
62
Accepted
Paragraph: 192
Reduce National Referral Mechanism decision-making time and clear backlog by June 2024
Recommendation
We recommend that the Home Office significantly reduces the number of days taken to make National Referral Mechanism decisions and clears the backlog of National Referral Mechanism decisions. It should aim for the target timeframe outlined in the Modern Slavery statutory guidance and should set a target date for clearing the backlog of June 2024.
Government Response Summary
The government has accepted the recommendation to reduce NRM decision times and clear the backlog, stating they have significantly increased staff by around 200 and implemented new initiatives to boost productivity.
Paragraph Reference:
192
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
To reduce the average decision making time, we have significantly increased our workforce, including through a major recruitment exercise to further boost decision-maker numbers by around 200 staff. We have increased productivity and improved performance through new initiatives including mainstreaming best practice. Teams where this approach was piloted last year saw significant productivity increases of 40%, more cases being allocated to decision-makers, and time taken to work on a case dropping by 30 days on average. This is now being rolled out across the commands.