ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned the application of social justice principles to the delivery of services for vulnerable adults by local authorities. Successive UK governments since the 1990s have identified the need to ensure adequate care and protection for vulnerable adults through statutory regulation and practice guidance. In the debate about vulnerable adults, new areas of theory, policy and practice have been introduced, including the introduction of the ‘dignity agenda’. Vulnerable adult women, and those who experience domestic abuse, worry about disclosing the reality and severity of their experiences. Vulnerable adults are perhaps the most vulnerable to slavery, forced labour and human trafficking, and local authority adult safeguarding practice guidance has been revised to take this into account. Local authorities recognise that one of the indicators listed by Salford may not in isolation be sufficient to become a victim of human trafficking or modern slavery; it is when the factors combine that vulnerable adults are at increased risk.
