To worry how can we verify we aren't supporting human trafficking?

[LightDrizzle]

Posting here for traffic.

The other thread on the Thai Sex Trade has reignited fears I have about other areas of human trafficking and whether I have supported them and how do we check we are not.
I've read recently that there has been and remains an issue with nail bars trafficking Vietnamese women to work as pretty much slave labour, and the same thing in relation to car washes with different nationalities.
Does anyone know if these businesses are routinely visited and checked by the L.A. or UK Customs and Immigration or anything? I've had a look on UK and government websites and the problem is described but I don't know if they only respond to tip-offs or whether they are more proactive in checking businesses. I've been to Nail Bars staffed solely by Vietnamese workers, most of whom speak no English. I also go to car washes employing foreign workers. I'd hate to only go to British owned businesses and thereby discriminate on grounds of race against non-British workers working hard to make a life for themselves and their families. I teach ESOL so I tend to want to support people wanting to make a life and contribute to the UK, but the idea that I might be supporting slavery horrifies me.
Can anyone with police/immigration/ local authority connections enlighten me?
I suppose I want to hear that these businesses, which operate in plain sight, are routinely checked. If they aren't, should people who have no reason for supposing they use trafficked workers other than they fit the businesss type raise a query with authorities? And if yes, then which authorities?

Good questions op.

Its all around us.

I am willing to bet a significant sum that most of these businesses are never visited by Border Farce or whatever they are called this week.

These nail bar girls get moved about and hidden it is a terrifying thought I guess all we can do is report to trading standards or the police if we suspect anything and not turn a blind eye thinking somebody else will report

I've stopped using businesses that only employ foreign workers with poor English for low paid tasks. This flies in the face on my liberal sensibilities but I can't currently see any other way to feel confident that I'm not funding slavery.

I suppose there is no way to be sure but I DO actually try to use British owned businesses ( locally owned too if possible). I don't see this as discriminatory at all as when I am abroad I would always try and support local businesses too.
We own a property in Spain and I avoid any ex pat businesses, this often makes things much cheaper as well we have found. Having said that I suppose ex pats are technically " locals"
I might still be inadvertently supporting people trafficking but I think by using locally owned companies where possible it reduces the chances

I've stopped using nail bars too for the same reason. It's not like you can ask them because they don't chat and have little English.

You realise its not just nail bars? It's every takeaways, farms, fruit picking, food processing factories, seasonal jobs, hospitality and the beauty industry

gamerwidow I don't think there is anything wrong in doing that either it isn't discrimination imo

It is everywhere it isn't new either people traffiking is an industry

Theres some good info on how to spot the signs here;
hopeforjustice.org/spot-the-signs/

Sloe - I do realise. I referenced the activities I have because they are the ones I see and potentially engage with, so they are the activities I should or can act on.

You do hear of occasional reports of Border agency staff raids, but they are few and far between. I'd say local small businesses with entirely overseas staff pose much higher risks of using those who are effectively slaves so yes I would avoid them.

Construction sites get raided pretty often. They almost all have gangs of illegal Indian immigrants working on them for less than minimum wage living in appalling conditions.

If you have a look back at other places which have had high levels of migration in a concentrated area over a short period like Nairobi and Singapore it almost always comes along with high levels of exploitation, particularly of women.

gamerwidow I think I may have to do the same. I hate it though. I teach ESOL, so my students are non-British adults who have often made huge sacrifices to live in the UK to try and secure better futures for themselves and their families. The idea of boycotting foreign businesses that could well be legitimate and providing wages to people like our learners is awful.
I suppose it's a risk/benefit decision and choosing to boycott industries particularly associated with it and that fit the profile is probably the way to go.
I'm also going to ring the police non-emergency line about the nail bar I had most concerns about. I stopped going about a year ago. It's not a disaster if that makes me middle-class, hand-wringing, time-waster (which is what has held me back).

Ch4 did a programme last year on it the family who were jailed recently wereexposed on it the exploitation of young people horrified me their was story after story of teenagers working in places these kids had no passports some of them were as young as 14

Maybe if we invested in creating a better enforcement regime instead of continually cutting public services, we could be happier that workers weren't being exploited as well as creating jobs