The 17th December marks International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Violence can take many forms, but it frequently stems from stigma and discrimination. One area of violence often overlooked is structural violence; social, political and economic institutions that build structures that cause harm to others.
This year alone, we’ve seen a massive shift in structural violence towards sex workers in the UK, with the implementation of the Online Safety Act (OSA), further proposed regulation of the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Universal Credit (UC), and the Crime and Policing Bill (England) and Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill, both attempting to introduce the client criminalisation.
Online Safety Act (OSA)
The Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA) aims to protect children and adults online, putting more responsibility on all websites, including social media companies and search services, through legal accountability. Part of this act includes child safety, and as of 25th July 2025, platforms are now required to use age verification systems to prevent children from accessing pornography or content that encourages self-harm, suicide or eating disorders, as well as preventing children from accessing other harmful content, such as hateful content or ingesting dangerous substances.
We recently released a blog post outlining some of its failings, both for sex workers and young people. One of the main impacts on sex workers is the almost immediate drop in clients and, therefore, a drop in income. This leads to overworking and taking more risks, such as not screening clients, more in-person work and/or managed forms of work, placing them at greater risk of violence and exploitation.
The OSA does not take into consideration the livelihood of sex workers and forces them to be in more dangerous situations than they were prior to the introduction of the OSA.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Universal Credit Health (UC Health)
In Spring 2025, the government issued a Green Paper that proposed to change the eligibility criteria for PIP, the PIP assessment and scrapping of the work capability assessment (WCA).
Decrim Now’s Survey Report, ‘Sex Workers Navigating Gendered Poverty’ found that of 172 sex workers surveyed, 77% considered themselves to be disabled or to have a long-term health condition, including mental illness and neurodivergence.
32% of respondents reported that one of the main reasons for entering or remaining in sex work was because they were too unwell to continue with ‘regular’ work and being unable to survive on benefits.
The report also found that 66% of respondents who cited health or disability as a reason for entering sex work had never attempted to apply for PIP. This is largely due to the community and wider public’s awareness of how difficult and distressing the process is currently, with many applications being rejected.
To qualify for PIP, you have an assessment where you score ‘points’ based on how your condition affects your daily life. One of the main proposals was the removal of support for people who do not score 4 in at least one daily living component. Losing this would not only remove their PIP support, but also their access to other benefits which rely on them receiving PIP. At present, the government has said that they would not make any changes to the PIP eligibility criteria and would wait until the findings of the Timms Report.
PIP often enables disabled people to work, and to remove this would push them further away from the mainstream work force, and lead to financial insecurity, poverty and precarity and will have a significant impact on the mental health of disabled people.
Alongside this, reduction in PIP eligibility will impact carers, who are also already overrepresented in sex work. Carers will be required to do more to support those they care for, potentially preventing them from working mainstream jobs alongside their caring responsibilities, and some PIP claimants will lose their carers allowance altogether. Not only will more disabled people turn to selling sex to make ends meet, but those who care for them will do too.
The already difficult and stressful benefits system deters people from applying. The further proposed changes will push disabled people and carers into further poverty, isolation and riskier choices regarding sex work.
Crime and Policing Bill (England) and Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill
The Crime and Policing Bill (England) was introduced in the House of Commons in February 2025. It proposed a variety of changes to law, but most concerning for sex workers was the proposal to criminalise the purchase of sex and the advertisement of sexual services, including any support to sex workers in carrying out sex work.
Similarly, in Scotland, the Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill also proposes criminalising the purchase of sexual services.
The conflation of sex work with trafficking and sexual exploitation is concerning. While in some cases these do overlap, it is not inherently so. This would continue stigma towards sex workers, while not providing support to those affected by adult sexual exploitation.
The proposed changes are a move towards the Nordic model, which is the criminalisation of clients rather than sex workers, with the aim to shrink the sex industry. The Nordic model has proven to lead to widespread harm and violence towards sex workers:
- People selling sex on-street in Canada reported being forced to work later at night, for longer hours, in less safe areas, to avoid clients being targeted by the police. They reported being unable to screen clients, having less ability to refuse clients, and an inability to take appropriate health and safety measures to reduce risks of violence or transmission of STIs, including HIV.
- People selling sex in Sweden had to rely more on third parties in potentially exploitative arrangements. A review from the Norwegian Ministry of Justice stated that “prostitutes’ dependence on pimps has increased because street prostitutes cannot work as openly. The police informed us that it is more difficult to investigate cases of pimping and trafficking“.
- People selling sex in Sweden also reported greater competition for clients, meaning that they earned less money and had to engage in riskier activities. They also reported that laws criminalising the purchase of sex only deterred clients who would otherwise be law-abiding, meaning that they were more likely to encounter violence.
The Nordic model pushes sex workers to operate illegally, exposing them to more risk of violence, poverty and exploitation.
As is outlined in Decrim Now’s survey report, sex work is not going away, and the government’s focus should be on addressing the primary reason people enter sex work: 76% of respondents went into sex work for financial needs. Reform of the social security system should be priority, rather than criminalisation of sex work.
You can read our written evidence for the Crime and Policing Bill (England) consultation, and our written evidence for the Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill consultation.
What we can do
National Ugly Mugs (NUM) has published their annual Memorial Card that lists known sex workers who have been murdered in the UK and Ireland since 1990. This is too many.
While the above examples are mainly government actions, it’s worth noting that structural issues are also a societal issue, as they feed into one another. Policies and laws influence how our society views sex workers. Not only do they affect real life chances and quality of life, but they also impact general society opinions and can influence stigma and discrimination.
Make no mistake, this is violence.
One of the strongest things that you can do to be an ally to sex workers is to email your MP. Whether you support the right of people selling sex to work together for safety, to access safe and stable housing, to access appropriate and non-stigmatising healthcare, to achieve greater autonomy and independence at work, or to have stronger abilities to access legal remedies when their rights are not met or they experience harm at work – share with your MP why decrim matters to you and how it will make your community safer.
We also recommend following the work of sex-worker led organisations across the UK and beyond to find out about other opportunities you can support, including Decrim Now and the English Collective of Prostitutes, and other local collectives across the country. Keep up to date with their campaigns and find out about how you can continue to show your support for sex workers’ rights.
Basis Yorkshire also run CPD-certified training courses which focus on sharing best practice on working with women sex workers, understanding the law and how this impacts sex workers. Follow our Eventbrite to find out when the next one is running.
Stigma and discrimination create a world in which sex workers suffer disproportionately from violence. Anything we can do to reduce the stigmatisation and discrimination of sex work will help create a safer environment for sex workers.