Hundreds of African children are being sold by their parents to become modern day slaves in Britain.
Many are sold while they are still babies to criminal gangs and people traffickers, with their parents hoping they will be able to find a better life out of Africa, The Sunday Telegraph has reported.
However, once the children arrive in Britain, they are used to obtain thousands of dollars worth of fraudulent welfare and housing benefits from the government.
Many aged over seven were also put to work as domestic slaves or in restaurants and shops while others were subjected to physical and sexual abuse, the newspaper said.
Campaigners including the charity End Child Prostitution and Trafficking have called on the British government to take urgent action to stop child slavery in the UK.
"These children are being abused under our noses in our own country," the charity's director Chris Beddoe told the newspaper.
"We need urgent action to identify these children as they enter the UK, find those who are being abused and offer proper protection to those who escape or are freed from their abusers."
The newspaper said that during its undercover investigation one reporter was offered several children for sale by their Nigerian parents, including two three- and five-year-old boys for STG5,000 ($A11,248) and a 10-month-old baby for STG2,000 ($A4,499).
A recent government survey found that 330 children, including 14 aged under 12, had been trafficked to Britain in the past year.
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