CHERWELL District Council unanimously backed a charter seeking to end modern slavery at a meeting on Monday.

Proposed by the leader of the Labour group, Sean Woodcock, it calls for the Government to increase support provided to survivors of modern slavery from 45 days to 12 months.

The council will now train its corporate procurement team to understand modern slavery through a course run by the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply.

Mr Woodcock said: "Like many of you, I am a football fan. I was engrossed in the World Cup, hoping that we could repeat that year that is engrained in our national memory: 1966. It didn't quite happen.

"But another date I look back on with national pride is 1807. Some of you may not recognise that date – it's the year when the Act prohibiting the slave trade was passed. And that, really, should have been it. But unfortunately slavery is real and it is happening now."

Mr Woodcock said: "In the UK more than 13,000 people are estimated to be working as slaves; that includes over 2,000 children.

"It's in various sectors: agriculture, fishing, private homes, nail bars, car washes, brothels and drug dens."

Last December, a report prepared by the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner Anthony Stansfeld showed many cases of modern slavery go unreported to police. In Oxfordshire, there were about 150 estimated victims of modern slavery.