Why Decriminalisation Protects Women in Sex Work

Most sex workers in the UK are women. Many are mothers supporting families. The vast majority are trying to survive rising rents and energy bills, benefit cuts, low paid and exploitative work and debt.

They deserve safety and rights, not criminalisation.

Some proposals now being discussed would introduce the so-called Nordic model, where clients are criminalised. Supporters claim this protects women. But the evidence from countries that have tried it shows something different.

Criminalising clients pushes sex work further underground and makes women less safe.

The alternative is full decriminalisation, as introduced in New Zealand in 2003 and Belgium in 2023, and in several Australian states. Decriminalisation removes criminal penalties and allows sex workers to work together, report violence, and access protection under the law.

Sex workers across the UK are asking Parliament to take this evidence seriously.

The reality of criminalisation in the UK

Sex workers in England and Wales already face criminalisation from a range of draconian laws.

This includes “prostitute’s cautions” and convictions for offences such as loitering, soliciting and brothel-keeping. Our campaign against prostitute’s cautions has documented the devastating and lifelong impact on women’s lives. They put women at greater risk of exploitation and violence, and they can mean that sex workers lose custody of their children, are denied compensation and/or insurance and are deported or prevented from travelling.  There is no right of appeal and the caution remains on someone’s record until they are 100 years old! Our open letter to the Home Secretary was endorsed by 80 organisations.

An important step has been the government’s decision to include an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill to expunge criminal records related to “child prostitution”. Many women received these cautions when they were teenagers. We are asking Parliament to extend this to all sex workers.

Criminalisation undermines safety

Criminalisation pushes sex workers into more dangerous conditions.

Laws against brothel-keeping mean two or more sex workers cannot legally work together for safety. Women who share a flat or look out for each other can be prosecuted.

This is not theoretical. In July 2025, a sex worker and mother named Jasmine was charged with brothel-keeping simply for creating a safe place where women could work together. With legal and community support the charges were eventually dropped—but they should never have been brought.

Criminalisation also shapes the relationship between sex workers and police. A 2021 study found that 42% of street-based sex workers in East London reported experiencing violence from police. Migrant women and women of colour are particularly targeted.

When the law treats workers as criminals, safety becomes harder to achieve.

The Nordic model does not protect women

The Nordic model was first introduced in Sweden in 1999 and has since spread to other countries. Supporters say it “decriminalises” sex workers because only clients are prosecuted. But in practice sex workers still face arrests, fines, evictions and deportations. The harms are well documented.

In Ireland, violent crime against sex workers almost doubled in the two years after client criminalisation was introduced.

This happens because client criminalisation forces sex workers to rush negotiations and move to more isolated locations to avoid police detection.

A systematic review of research covering nearly three decades found that criminalisation triples the likelihood of sex workers experiencing violence and doubles the risk of HIV infection.

Defining all sex work as “sexual exploitation” will make things worse

Some policymakers are proposing to define prostitution in law as “adult sexual exploitation”. This would mean anyone associated with sex workers—drivers, receptionists, friends, colleagues—could be prosecuted.

Online advertising platforms could also be criminalised.

But online advertising is one of the main ways sex workers protect themselves. It allows workers to screen clients, maintain privacy and work independently.

If these tools disappear, more women will be forced back onto the street where violence is far more common.

Labelling all sex work as exploitation does not help people who are genuinely being exploited. Instead, it pushes the industry further underground and makes it harder for victims to access help.

Decriminalisation improves safety and health

Where sex work has been fully decriminalised, the results are clear.

In New Zealand, where prostitution was decriminalised in 2003:

• Sex workers can report violence without fear of arrest
• Workers can refuse dangerous clients more easily
• Police can focus on coercion, trafficking and violence
• Sex workers have greater access to healthcare and legal protection

Belgium decriminalised in 2022 giving sex workers labour rights, including pensions, maternity leave and the right to refuse clients — strengthening workers’ hands to fight workplace exploitation

Trafficking and exploitation remain illegal under decriminalisation. When workers are not criminalised they are more able to report exploitation and help identify victims.

This is why decriminalisation is supported by organisations including Amnesty International, the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, Liberty, and major trade unions such as the GMB, Communication Workers Union, and ASLEF.

Addressing a concern raised by some women MPs

Some women MPs have raised an important question: would decriminalisation reduce women’s power to resist abusive men? The opposite is true.

Criminalisation keeps sex workers poor and afraid to call the police for fear of arrest or deportation. It strengthens the power of abusive men who know the law is not on the woman’s side.

Decriminalisation increases women’s power because it increases their safety, legal protection and financial independence.

A woman who can work legally, organise with others and keep her income is in a far stronger position to refuse dangerous clients or leave abusive relationships.

The real issue here is economic power. Women cannot easily leave abusive men if they have no income, no housing and no social support.

If Parliament wants women to be safe and independent, it must ensure that women have money in their hands and real alternatives.

That means among other things: well-funded domestic violence refuges; an end to benefit sanctions and living wage benefit levels; pay equity, priority housing for women leaving sex work; ending the “no recourse to public funds” rule for migrant women. Considering that most sex workers are mothers, campaigns for support for mothers especially single mothers, in the form of a “Care Income” would allow many women to get out of prostitution. A pilot in San Francisco showed this to be true.

Decriminalisation is one part of a broader strategy to reduce violence against women and poverty.

What MPs can do now

MPs can take practical steps to help protect sex workers and reduce harm:

• Submit written questions to the Home Secretary calling for an end to criminalisation and opposing client criminalisation.
• Support the extension of criminal record expungement to all sex workers.
• Meet with sex worker organisations to hear directly about the impact of current laws.

If Parliament wants fewer women harmed, fewer women trapped in poverty, and fewer violent men getting away with abuse, the evidence points in one direction: decriminalise sex work.