‘Exploitation is all around us. You’ll find it on your local high street; in our love of cheap food; in our love of preening and car washing.‘

Essential viewing last month from investigative journalist Darragh MacIntyre, whose BBC-backed documentary exposes the appalling experiences of just some of the estimated 13,000 victims of modern slavery in the UK today – including the shocking case of Darrell Simester, a vulnerable British national trafficked by another British national. The Modern Slavery act, passed in 2013, may have put Britain back at the fore of the fight against this trade in human exploitation, but the fight is just beginning. As MacIntyre reminds us, Modern Slavery persists because we allow it to: fuelling supply with our voracious consumer appetites.

According to Anti-Slavery Commissioner Kevin Hyland, the chance of victims being recognised and supported are only one in four. Like the Centre for Social Justice’s landmark report It Happens Here, MacIntyre emphasises the psychological bonds that bind victims of modern slavery – quietly reminding all of us to look beyond the appearance of freedom, and help, where we can, to break the enslavement of complicity and silence.

• Click here to read the Centre for Social Justice report It Happens Here, which helped to catalyse Britain’s government into action in 2013 with the passing of the Modern Slavery Act.