Jane Wharton ‘Draconian laws’ and increasing poverty have exposed sex workers to soaring rates of rape and assault, according to a leading pressure group. The English Collective of Prostitutes says two thirds had experienced violence within the last month alone. It has also highlighted that poverty sparked by benefit cuts have led to a surge […]
Written and oral evidence from the ECP to the Work and Pensions Committee Inquiry into Universal Credit and Survival Sex focused on the impact of austerity on levels of prostitution in the UK. The Committee published its findings in November 2019 and recommended action against some of the worst injustices of the benefit system such as draconian […]
Evidence that women are being driven to sex work because of problems with universal credit must lead to government action, MPs have said.A number of women told the work and pensions committee they turned to sex work because their benefits payments did not cover their basic needs.The committee said the government had previously been “dismissive” of […]
As the government faces calls to axe the five-week wait for Universal Credit payments, one ex-claimant describes her experience.One woman told Sky News she had been forced to sell sex for £5 after Universal Credit struggles.Women are being driven to carry out “survival sex” work because of the five-week wait for Universal Credit payments, MPs […]
BY GEORGIA ASPINALL Women are being forced into survival sex work to afford basic necessities because of issues with universal credit according to new warnings from MPs. The work and pensions committee has lambasted the government for not taking the issue seriously sooner, having previously said that the link between universal credit and survival sex work was […]
MPs said the wait for the first payment was one of the ‘deep, structural problems’ with Universal Credit and called for it to be scrappedBy Serina SandhuThe Government must end the five-week wait for Universal Credit as it is often the reason claimants say they are forced into “survival sex”, MPs have said.The warning comes after the […]
Response to the Report from the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee Inquiry into Universal Credit and “survival sex”Laura Watson from the English Collective of Prostitutes, which gave evidence to the Committee says:“The fury against Universal Credit is growing. Women and children are its first targets and single mothers have been hit particularly hard losing on average […]
The work and pensions committee holds a parliamentary hearing on evidence that welfare reforms are linked to “survival sex”.By Lucia Binding, news reporterWomen are being “forced into selling sex” because they have few other options and live in fear of the state, an MP has warned.Steve McCabe’s comments come after the work and pensions committee […]
Benefits reform forcing women to sell sex for cash, food or shelter, MPs’ committee toldWomen are increasingly forced to take up sex work to get money for food and rent after becoming desperate over financial hardship caused by universal credit, an MPs’ committee has heard.A series of witnesses from specialist charities that work with women involved […]
Crossroads Women’s Centre, 25 Wolsey Mews, Kentish Town, London NW5 2DXTel: 020 7482 2496 Email: ecp@prostitutescollective.net English Collective of Prostitutes to give evidence to the Work and Pensions Committee Inquiry on Survival Sex, 22 May 2019 The ECP is a self-help organisation of sex workers, working both on the street and in premises, with a […]