Intersections between exploitation and cognitive impairment: an exploratory study in Nottingham, UK

This report aims to explore the intersection between exploitation and mental health problems, learning disabilities, and other forms of cognitive impairment in Nottingham, adopting the wider definitions of exploitation used by Nottingham’s multi-agency Slavery and Exploitation Risk Assessment Conference (SERAC). The SERAC process was established by Nottingham City Council and partners in 2019 to recognise and seek to disrupt a wide range of different types of exploitation, not all of which would meet the prosecution threshold for ‘modern slavery’. Additional forms of exploitation include for example ‘cuckooing’, financial exploitation, and ‘mate crime’. We were keen to capture these diverse forms of exploitation within the report because such activities often manifest in terms of anti-social behaviour and low-level criminality which can impact heavily upon communities and blight the health and well-being of vulnerable individuals, as well as demanding high levels of police and public service attention.