Dorothy Bain QC

Ms Bain raised concerns as prosecutors in Scotland are forced to pursue young people who may be involved with criminal gangs because the Home Office takes months to verify their status.

Writing in today’s Times, Solicitor General Ruth Charteris QC, says there is a presumption against prosecuting young children forced into criminality but that the current rules mean they cannot easily distinguish between criminals and victims.

The Home Office usually takes about 14 months to make a determination. Suspects, however, must be charged with a crime within 24 hours of arrest and prosecutors are required to serve an indictment usually within 10 months of the first appearance in court.

Ms Charteris said: “This means that the prosecutor must often, to prevent the case from time-barring, commence proceedings against people who have provisionally been identified as victims.”

The Home Office said a review of its modern slavery strategy “will be published in the coming months”. 

It added: “We have a world-leading system to support those who are genuine victims. But we must also tackle any abuse in the system which has contributed to decision-making taking far too long, at the detriment to those who are genuinely in need. That is why we have brought forward changes through the Nationality and Borders Act and will continue to review and reform the [referral] system.”