Briefing: Oppose Clauses on Prostitution in the Crime and Policing Bill 2025
See our Action Alert with template letter to email your MP here.
BRIEFING: Oppose Clauses on Prostitution in the CRIME AND POLICING BILL 2025
By the English Collective of Prostitutes, April 2025.
Listen to what sex workers say would make our work safer & support us in our efforts to organise against exploitation and violence. Oppose clauses NC1 and NC2.
Clauses NC1 and NC2 of the Crime and Policing Bill 2025[i] aim to criminalise a) anyone who associates with a sex worker – workmates, drivers, web makers, receptionists, friends, clients, and b) advertising sites which sex workers depend on to work independently and in greater safety. These clauses are based on misinformation and ignore what sex workers’ say would make our work safer.
KEY FACTS ON SEX WORK THAT SHOULD BE CONSIDERED:
- Of the approximately 72,800 sex workers in the UK — at least 88% are women.[ii] Most sex workers are mothers supporting families[iii], prevented from leaving prostitution by poverty.
- Destitution policies like the two-child limit, benefit sanctions and the benefit cap have taken money out of women’s hands increasing prostitution. The latest proposal to cut disability benefits will undoubtably push more people into sex work as studies show that a disproportionate number of sex workers have a disability[iv] and/or are supporting a disabled family member.
- Politicians who claim to want to reduce prostitution must address rising hardship, homelessness and debt as well as the lack of pay equity, low wages and poor conditions in many other jobs – especially those traditionally done by women. More than 70% of UK sex workers have previously worked in healthcare, education or the voluntary sector because of the “inability to meet living costs” in other jobs traditionally done by women.[v]
- Current laws make it illegal to work on the street (loitering and soliciting) and together with others (brothel keeping and controlling). Studies have shown that criminalisation of sex work is linked to a higher risk of sexual or physical violence.[vi]Sex workers are forced by the laws to work in isolation and greater danger and are deprived of time to screen clients. Fear of arrest, and for migrant sex workers, fear of deportation, are an obstacle to reporting violence.
- Most sex workers are not trafficked. A study of migrant sex workers found less than 6% had been trafficked, many said they prefer working in the sex industry rather than the “unrewarding and sometimes exploitative conditions they meet in non-sexual jobs.”[vii] Studies in countries (where trafficking has been used to justify the introduction of laws criminalising the purchase of sex) found only 6% of sex workers were trafficked or forced by someone to sell sex.[viii]
NB: We strongly object to prostitution being redefined as “commercial sexual exploitation” by stealth in these amendments.
As we commented to the press recently:
“Redefining prostitution as sexual exploitation would be disastrous for sex workers and seriously undermine safety and health . . . All sex workers would be categorised as victims of exploitation regardless of how we name our own experience and anyone that associates with us would be criminalised as an exploiter.”[ix]
CLAUSES
OPPOSE CLAUSE NC1: “Commercial sexual exploitation by a third party.”
This clause would criminalise anyone who associates with sex workers as well as online platforms which sex workers depend on to advertise. The case for this is based on misinformation.
Preventing sex workers from advertising will increase violence and the risk of attack.
Research shows that internet platforms have allowed sex workers to work inside where it is safer than on the streets, and also to work independently of managers or agencies who may be exploitative. Sex workers can screen clients and have more control over their rates and services.[x]
Many sex workers loathe the sexist and abusive way that these platforms operate and the amount of money they take from their earnings. But the solution isn’t to close down the platforms altogether it is to decriminalise sex work so that workers are more able to exercise their rights and be put on a par with other workers to fight for better terms when advertising.
The head of the National Crime Agency’s Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Unit has stated that adult service websites have a “safety benefit” in that they allow sex workers to “vet clients and they are able to be clear in the services they offer.”[xi]
US laws (SESTA/FOSTA) were introduced during Trump’s first term in office and research and testimony show that not only did they not reduce trafficking[xii] sex workers were left more vulnerable to labour exploitation and trafficking.[xiii] The number of adverts didn’t even reduce as new sites sprung up.[xiv]
“There was a scramble to find clients in a safer way post FOSTA and most of us were hurting financially. As a result, more women have to work the streets where it is more dangerous to work. We are forced to take clients we would previously refused and take risks to earn enough to live on.”[xv] US PROStitutes Collective
Forcing sex workers to work in isolation increases the risk of violence.
The clause also criminalises anyone who facilitates/incites a sex worker to work. That could include a workmate, driver, web maker, receptionist, friend or even family. No payment needs to be received. Laws against brothel-keeping and controlling are already primarily used against sex workers working together for safety forcing women to work in isolation and greater danger. A 2019 survey of 185 sex workers found that “the most common third party are other sex workers themselves – mainly in the role of colleagues” and that sex workers “feel forced to choose between working alone and without support, or risking prosecution for themselves or any third parties they work with.”
One sex worker commented:
“Working together with my friend is illegal which means I definitely would never report anything to the police and this gives clients an immense degree of power over me.”
OPPOSE CLAUSE NC2: “Commercial sexual exploitation.”
NC2 criminalises people who buy sex or pay someone to have sex with someone else.
There is a wealth of evidence to show that criminalising clients increases violence and harm for sex workers.
- Violent crime against sex workers in Ireland rose by 92% after clients were criminalised.[xvi]
- Médecins du Monde surveyed 600 sex workers in France and found that criminalising clients “had a detrimental effect on sex workers’ safety, health and overall living conditions… It has led to increased impoverishment, especially among people already living precariously, such as undocumented migrant women working in the street.”[xvii]
- A Northern Irish Ministry of Justice review[xviii] of the law there found no decrease in prostitution but an increase in the level of abuse targeted towards sex workers. Amnesty International’s 2022 report[xix] in Ireland found the law “purportedly designed to protect human trafficking victims and sex workers from exploitation is instead facilitating the targeting and abuse of sex workers.”
- Amnesty International’s research[xx] in Norway found that sex workers are still criminalised and that “forced evictions, investigations, surveillance, prosecutions, and increased stigma are prevalent with migrant workers particularly targeted.”
SUPPORT CLAUSE NC3: “Victims of Commercial sexual exploitation.”
This amendment repeals the offence of ‘Loitering or soliciting for purposes of prostitution’ in the Street Offences Act 1959.
Thousands of women in the UK have prostitute’s cautions and convictions for loitering and soliciting on their record. The ECP report Proceed Without Caution: The Impact of ‘‘prostitute’s cautions’’ and Convictions on Sex Workers’ lives[xxi], launched in parliament last November, documented that prostitute’s cautions and convictions have a 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. Having a conviction is a barrier to getting another job and leaving prostitution. This impact is compounded for sex workers who are migrant, trans, women of colour, street workers and working class.
One woman testified:
“At the age of 25, seven years into the industry, I tried to leave. I had three kids to feed and looked for a job in an office, but they did a DBS check and the cautions and convictions came up. So, I didn’t get the job. I had to carry on with prostitution.”
In addition to the loitering and soliciting law being repealed, prostitute’s cautions and convictions should be expunged from women’s criminal records.
ACTION THAT IS NEEDED
Decriminalisation of sex work.
New Zealand successfully decriminalised prostitution with verifiable improvements[xxii] in sex workers’ safety, health and well-being. 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.[xxiii]
Decriminalisation is supported by prestigious organisations such as the Royal College of Nursing, Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and Women Against Rape in the UK and internationally Amnesty International, the World Health Organization, Human Rights Watch and the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women.
Measures that would help women exit prostitution when they wanted include: repealing universal credit, benefit sanctions, the benefit cap and bedroom tax, reinstating Income Support for single mothers and a Care Income which acknowledges caring work as a vital contribution to society.[xxiv]
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[i] Crime and Policing Bill 2025. https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3938
[ii] Brooks-Gordon, B., Mai, N., Perry, G., Sanders, T. (2015). Calculating the Number of Sex Workers and Contribution to Non-Observed Economy in the UK for the Office for National Statistics. Note: No research we have found distinguishes between trans women, trans men and non-binary sex workers or asked those who identified themselves as female or male whether they identified as the gender they were assigned at birth.)
[iii] A 2004 government report found that 74% of off-street sex workers “cited the need to pay household expenses and support their children” Home Office. (2004). Paying the Price: A Consultation Paper on Prostitution.
[iv] Studies and anecdotal evidence indicate that a significant portion of sex workers experience disability.
[v] The Guardian, 27 February 2015. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/27/most-sex-workers-jobs-health-education-charities-survey
[vi] Platt L, Grenfell P, Meiksin R, Elmes J, Sherman SG, Sanders T, Mwangi P, Crago AL. (2018). Associations between sex work laws and sex workers’ health: a systematic review and meta-analysis of quantitative and qualitative studies. https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002680
[vii] Mai, N. (2011). Migrant Workers in the UK Sex Industry: ESRC Full Research Report. https://prostitutescollective.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Migrant-Workers-in-the-UK-Sex-Industry-Project-Final-Policy-Relevant-Report.pdf
[viii] Vuolajärvi, N. (2022) Criminalising the buying of sex? Experiences from the Nordic Countries. https://www.lse.ac.uk/women-peace-security/assets/documents/2022/W922-0152-WPS-Policy-Paper-6-singles.pdf
[ix] Big Issue, 7 March 2025. https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/stop-conflating-sex-work-and-trafficking/
[x] English Collective of Prostitutes. (2022). Briefing: Online Safety Bill – Criminalising sex workers’ online adverts will undermine safety. https://prostitutescollective.net/briefing-online-safety-bill/
[xi] Sunderland Echo, 17 February 2021. https://www.sunderlandecho.com/read-this/in-town-for-one-week-only-how-crime-gangs-are-using-legal-adult-websites-to-sell-their-victims-and-why-vice-squads-back-them-3138088
[xii] Blunt, D. & Wolf. A. ‘Erased: The impact of FOSTA-SESTA and the removal of Backpage on sex workers‘ ’, Anti-Trafficking Review, issue 14, 2020, pp. 117-121, https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.201220148
[xiii] Impacts of SESTA on US Sex Worker’s Vulnerability to Infectious Disease, SWOP USA & Reframe Health Justice Consulting
[xiv] Emily Kenway, The Truth about Modern Slavery p.95
[xv] Liberal Currents, 16 Marc 2021. Has FOSTA Accomplished Its Goals? https://www.liberalcurrents.com/has-fosta-accomplished-its-goals/
[xvi] The Belfast Telegraph, 27 March 2019. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/republic-of-ireland/crime-against-sex-workers-almost-doubles-since-law-change-37957334.html
[xvii] Medecins du Monde. (2018). What do sex workers think about the French Prostitution Act? web_en_rapport-prostitution-finale.pdf (nswp.org)
[xviii] Department of Justice in Northern Ireland. (2019). https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/justice/assessment-of-impact-criminalisation-of-purchasing-sexual-services.pdf
[xix] Amnesty International (2022). “We live within a violent system” – Structural violence against sex workers in Ireland. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/01/ireland-laws-criminalizing-sex-work-are-facilitating-the-targeting-and-abuse-of-sex-workers/
[xx] Amnesty International. (2016). The Human Cost of ‘Crushing’ the Market: Criminalization of Sex Work in Norway. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur36/4034/2016/en/
[xxi] English Collective of Prostitutes. (2024). Proceed Without Caution: The Impact of Prostitute’s Cautions and Convictions on Sex Workers’ Lives. https://prostitutescollective.net/proceed-without-caution/
[xxii] Ministry of Justice. (2008). Report of the Prostitution Law Review Committee on the Prostitution Reform Act 2003. https://prostitutescollective.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/report-of-the-nz-prostitution-law-committee-2008.pdf
[xxiii] Euro News, 13 May 2024. Could Belgium’s historic labour law for sex workers usher change across Europe? https://www.euronews.com/2024/05/13/could-belgiums-historic-labour-law-for-sex-workers-usher-a-changed-approach-across-europe
[xxiv] In the UK, the English Collective of Prostitutes, Support Not Separation, the Global Women’s Strike and a number of other women’s organisations, as well as the Green New Deal for Europe, are campaigning for a care income to address social and environmental justice. They point to the fact that 80% of women are mothers and that overwhelmingly mothers are the primary carers and are impoverished as a result. An income that addresses mothers’ poverty and recognises their vital contribution to society would go a long way to tackling the economic conditions that drive women, especially mothers, into prostitution. https://globalwomenstrike.net/careincomenow/