The Home Office has confirmed that at least five survivors of sexual abuse by former Harrods owner Mohamed al-Fayed are officially recognised as victims of human trafficking, following conclusive grounds decisions issued through the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). The finding is significant because it formally establishes, through government process rather than survivor testimony alone, that the abuse involved organised trafficking and exploitation systems, undermining Harrods' previous position that the abuse was solely the actions of "one bad man" who can no longer be held accountable.

The confirmed victims include four members of the survivor advocacy group No One Above, identified by the pseudonyms Justine, Elizabeth, Margo and Isabella, with further survivors understood to have also received positive decisions. Their cases span from the 1990s to after Harrods was sold in 2010, and involve both domestic and international trafficking, including recruitment to false or legitimate Harrods roles later used as cover for abuse, and one case involving a domestic worker recruited through a letting agency. All five were referred to the NRM by the charity Unseen UK, with survivors describing the official decisions as shocking but validating confirmation of what they endured.