Cultural Competence in the Modern Slavery Sector in the United Kingdom: A Rapid Scoping Review

Modern slavery and human trafficking (MSHT) are growing issues in the United Kingdom, affecting survivors with diverse cultural, linguistic, religious, gendered, and migration-related needs. Yet culturally competent responses remain unevenly documented. This rapid scoping review mapped evidence on culturally competent provision for U.K. MSHT survivors, focusing on conceptions of cultural competence, cultural and structural barriers, practices and tools, training, and research gaps. Guided by scoping review methodology and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) principles, sources were identified through Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, ASSIA-ProQuest, Social Care Online, targeted organisational website searches, and expert recommendations. Sources were eligible if published between January 2013 and June 2023, written in English, U.K.-based or containing U.K.-relevant evidence, and addressed MSHT survivors or related populations where findings were relevant to MSHT support, cultural competence, provision, or training. Forty-six sources met criteria. Findings indicate that cultural competence is increasingly recognised as relevant to identification, engagement, safeguarding, justice, care, and recovery, but remains inconsistently defined and unevenly operationalised. Across the evidence, it was framed through cultural humility, safety, trauma-informed and person-centred care, trust-building, reflexivity, and attention to power and structural inequalities. Cultural barriers – including language, stigma, family pressures, religion/spirituality, mistrust, and racism – shaped identification, disclosure, engagement, and recovery. Reported responses encompassed interpreting, cultural mediation, culturally responsive assessment, bridged referrals, community partnership, and culturally specific or intercultural provision; training emphasised anti-stereotyping, intersectionality, structural competence, and reflective practice. The review integrates a fragmented evidence base and identifies priorities for survivor-informed frameworks, service evaluation, and culturally competent MSHT policy and practice.