UK sex work statistics, 2026

There is no official count: nobody registers and no census question asks. In 2025 a team of seven researchers, including Erobella's Brenda Jensen, produced the first new national estimate in a decade by combining four methods. It sits well above the 2015 figure that is still most often quoted.

1. 01.01

   An estimated 102,000 people are currently engaged in sex work in the UK, about 0.15% of the adult population, with a plausible range of 75,000 to 130,000.14

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2. 01.02

   That is 151 sex workers per 100,000 people, a higher density than Germany (110), Australia (80), the Netherlands (49) or Belgium (27).1

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3. 01.03

   Of the 102,000, roughly 75,000 are women, 20,000 men, 3,000 transgender and 3,000 non-binary or intersex.1

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4. 01.04

   35% to 40% work in London and the South East, 25% to 30% in the other major cities, and 30% to 35% in smaller towns and rural areas.1

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5. 01.05

   Online work accounts for 60% to 70% of all activity; street-based work is 2% to 5% of the population.1

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6. 01.06

   The previous estimate, still the most widely quoted, put the number at around 72,800, of whom roughly 32,000 worked in London.2

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7. 01.07

   That 2015 figure was built by surveying support services and applying a multiplier; a Home Office-commissioned review judged it likely to under-count men, independent escorts and migrants.3

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8. 01.08

   Published estimates since 1999 have ranged from 35,882 to 85,714, depending on whether they count street, indoor or online work and how they scale up from local data.3

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9. 01.09

   The 2019 Home Office review, which heard from 529 people involved in sex work and screened 1,421 publications, concluded that no data source allows a representative population estimate for the UK.3

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10. 01.10

    The model the ONS uses to count prostitution in GDP assumes roughly 58,000 people selling sex, scaled up from a 2004 count of about 7,000 off-street and 115 on-street workers in London.5

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11. 01.11

    A 2017 count of one adult-services website found 104,964 UK profiles, the likely origin of the “105,000 sex workers” figure that circulates online; up to a third of such profiles are inactive, so profiles are not people.3

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12. 01.12

    Public profile counts on the largest UK escort platform ran at 26,300 to 26,900 a quarter in 2016–17, but administrator data showed only 17,200 to 19,800 of them were active, a gap of more than 40%.13

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13. 01.13

    In 2021, 2,363 people flagged as sex workers attended specialist sexual health services in England, about 0.1% of all attendees. The flag depends on disclosure and is known to under-count.75

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Most sex workers are women, but the online market has a larger male share than most people assume. Migrants make up a large minority nationally and a majority in London. Students, parents, disabled people and people with other jobs all appear in the data.

1. 02.01

   At least 88% of UK sex workers are women, according to the estimate most often quoted.6

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2. 02.02

   Among 641 internet-based sex workers surveyed in 2016–17, 73.5% were women, 19.4% men, 3% transgender and 2.9% non-binary or intersex.7

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3. 02.03

   Back-end data from two leading UK adult-services platforms showed women as about three in four advertisers, men 23% to 30% and trans advertisers 1% to 4%.3

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4. 02.04

   Of 11,489 profiles offering in-person services on one major platform, 71.3% were women, 27.1% men and 1.6% trans; the median advertised age was 32 for women and 35 for men.11

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5. 02.05

   London accounted for 25% of all escort advertisers on one national platform, rising to 29% of male escorts and 47% of trans escorts.3

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6. 02.06

   An estimated 41% of sex workers in the UK are migrants, rising to around 80% in London.12

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7. 02.07

   Nearly 15% of internet-based sex workers surveyed held a non-UK nationality, and 87.2% described themselves as white.7

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8. 02.08

   43.8% of internet-based sex workers started between the ages of 18 and 24; 18.9% started in their thirties and 5.1% before they were 18.7

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9. 02.09

   Women who began selling sex on the street started at an average age of 19.6, compared with 22.7 for those who began indoors.15

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10. 02.10

    22.9% of internet-based sex workers held a degree and a further 14.4% a postgraduate qualification.7

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11. 02.11

    More than 70% of 240 sex workers surveyed in 2015 had previously worked in health, social care, education, childcare or the charity sector.10

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12. 02.12

    53% of sex workers in a 2025 survey had at least one other job, 27% had caring responsibilities and 77% described themselves as disabled or living with a long-term health condition.18

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13. 02.13

    In a 2024 London study, 27% of participating sex workers were migrants, 34% were disabled and at least 15% were trans or non-binary.19

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14. 02.14

    4.8% of 6,773 UK students surveyed in 2012–13 had been involved in the sex industry in some form, and 21.9% had considered it.16

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15. 02.15

    In October 2025, 4% of 2,000 UK students aged 18 to 24 said they had done sex work, including OnlyFans, camming, escorting or sugaring, and 23% knew someone at their university who had.17

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16. 02.16

    A leading sugar-arrangement website identified two-fifths of its registered members as students.3

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17. 02.17

    Of National Ugly Mugs members disclosing their gender, about 70% were cis women, 14% cis men, 5.9% trans women, 2.3% trans men and 7.9% non-binary; 47.7% were aged 18 to 30.20

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The British sex industry moved online in the 2000s and has largely stayed there. Street work is now a small minority. Most sex workers advertise independently, and platform data, not police data, is where the counts come from.

1. 03.01

   Street-based workers were estimated to make up just over a quarter of UK sex workers in 2016, with the rest working indoors, mostly independently.2

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2. 03.02

   In one survey of 218 sex workers, 87% worked independently, 4% in a brothel, sauna or parlour, 4% through an escort agency and 3% on the street.2

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3. 03.03

   Among internet-based sex workers, 74.1% worked as independent escorts, 39.7% webcammed and 5.3% worked through an agency, with many working in more than one sector.7

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4. 03.04

   65.3% of internet-based sex workers said they would not be doing sex work at all were it not for the internet, rising to 90.5% among those working only in webcam or phone sex.7

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5. 03.05

   89.4% said the internet let them work independently without third parties, and 72.1% did not share premises with other sex workers.7

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6. 03.06

   Vivastreet reported more than 300,000 adverts in its adult-services categories in 2022, around 45% of all adverts on the platform. Adverts lapse weekly, so this is a count of listings, not of people.14

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7. 03.07

   The largest UK escort platform listed 18,061 female, 7,391 male and 1,223 trans public profiles in winter 2016–17, of which 10,935, 5,365 and 879 respectively were active.13

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8. 03.08

   OnlyFans, whose parent company is registered in London, had 4.63 million creator accounts and 377 million fan accounts worldwide at the end of its 2024 financial year, up 13% and 24% in a year.2122

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9. 03.09

   The company does not publish how many of its creators are in the UK. It had 46 direct employees in 2024.22

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10. 03.10

    The median advertised rate for a one-hour in-call was £120 for women and £70 for men on one major UK platform; British women charged a median £130 against £100 for Eastern European women.11

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Yes, with a long list of exceptions. In England, Wales and Scotland, an adult may sell sex and an adult may pay for it. The offences sit around the transaction: soliciting in public, running a brothel, profiting from someone else's work, advertising in phone boxes. Northern Ireland is different: buying sex has been a crime there since 2015.

1. 04.01

   In England and Wales, exchanging sex for money between adults is not an offence. The criminal law targets soliciting in public, kerb-crawling, brothel-keeping, controlling or causing prostitution for gain, paying for sex with a coerced person, and advertising in phone boxes.38

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2. 04.02

   Soliciting by a sex worker is an offence only if persistent, meaning on two or more occasions in any three-month period. The maximum penalty is a level 2 fine, and since 2010 courts can instead order three meetings with a supervisor.39

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3. 04.03

   Since 1 April 2010 it has been an offence for a buyer to solicit someone in a street or public place, including from a car, with no persistence required. The maximum fine is £1,000.40

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4. 04.04

   Paying for sex with someone who has been forced, threatened, coerced or deceived by a third party is a strict-liability offence: it does not matter whether the buyer knew. It carries a fine of up to £1,000.40

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5. 04.05

   Keeping or managing a brothel carries up to seven years in prison. A brothel is any premises used by two or more people for prostitution, so two sex workers sharing a flat for safety commit the offence.4138

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6. 04.06

   Causing, inciting or controlling prostitution for gain carries a maximum of seven years. Trafficking for sexual exploitation under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 carries life.38

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7. 04.07

   Placing prostitution adverts in or near a public telephone has been an offence since 2001, punishable by up to six months in prison.42

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8. 04.08

   In Scotland, soliciting by a sex worker is an offence under a 1982 Act, and soliciting by a buyer in a public place has been an offence since October 2007. Selling and buying sex in private are legal.44

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9. 04.09

   Northern Ireland has criminalised paying for sex since 1 June 2015, the only part of the UK to do so. The same Act removed the offence of soliciting by sex workers.45

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10. 04.10

    The Crime and Policing Act 2026 provides for soliciting convictions and cautions received while aged under 18 to be disregarded and pardoned. The provisions were not yet in force when the Act received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026.43

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11. 04.11

    Sweden (since 1999), Norway, Iceland, Northern Ireland, France and the Republic of Ireland criminalise the purchase of sex but not its sale, the approach usually called the Nordic model. Great Britain has debated it repeatedly and never adopted it.4657

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Enforcement against sex workers has all but stopped in England and Wales. Recorded soliciting offences are a fraction of their 2000s level and convictions of sex workers have fallen to zero. Parliament has voted on the law several times and left it alone.

1. 05.01

   Police in England and Wales recorded 150 offences of soliciting for prostitution in the year to March 2026, down from 870 in 2014/15 and 2,111 in 2002/03.47

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2. 05.02

   Recorded offences of exploitation of prostitution, which covers brothel-keeping and controlling for gain, rose 24% to 323 in 2025/26, from 260 the year before and 154 in 2014/15.47

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3. 05.03

   The two prostitution offence groups together made up about 0.2% of the 217,567 sexual offences recorded by police in England and Wales in 2025/26.47

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4. 05.04

   Prosecutions of sex workers for loitering or soliciting fell from 456 in 2014/15 to two in 2024. There were no convictions at all in 2022, 2023 or 2024.248

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5. 05.05

   Prosecutions of buyers for kerb-crawling or soliciting fell from a peak of 305 in 2011/12 to 19 in 2024, which produced 13 convictions.4948

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6. 05.06

   The strict-liability offence of paying for sex with a coerced person produced one conviction in 2019, two in 2021 and none in 2022, 2023 or 2024.48

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7. 05.07

   Convictions for keeping a brothel fell from 17 in 2017 to zero in 2024, when nine prosecutions were brought. There had been 106 prosecutions in 2010/11.4849

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8. 05.08

   Convictions for controlling prostitution for gain have held at 13 to 19 a year since 2017, with 18 in 2024.48

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9. 05.09

   Prostitution offences charged by the Crown Prosecution Service fell from 225 in 2017–18 to 95 in 2021–22.50

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10. 05.10

    Leeds ran England's only formal non-enforcement zone for street sex work from October 2014, within which soliciting and kerb-crawling were not policed between 8pm and 6am. It cost about £200,000 a year and ended in June 2021.5455

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11. 05.11

    National police guidance issued in 2025 tells forces to focus on the highest-harm offences and notes that brothel-keeping laws can discourage sex workers from reporting crimes.53

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12. 05.12

    In July 2016 the Home Affairs Committee recommended decriminalising soliciting and allowing sex workers to share premises. The Government declined that December, saying it did not have “a robust evidence base”.5152

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13. 05.13

    On 4 November 2014 the House of Commons rejected a statutory review of prostitution law by 229 votes to 283.56

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14. 05.14

    At the Crime and Policing Bill's report stage on 18 June 2025, amendments to criminalise paying for sex and to repeal the soliciting offence were not put to a vote.57

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15. 05.15

    Scotland's Prostitution (Offences and Support) Bill, which would have criminalised paying for sex, fell at Stage 1 on 3 February 2026 by 54 votes to 64, after the committee scrutinising it split four to four.6061

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16. 05.16

    Convictions for soliciting in Scotland fell from a peak of 844 in 1992–93 to none in 2021–22 and 2022–23.58

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17. 05.17

    Police Scotland recorded 111 crimes associated with prostitution in 2024–25, up 54% on the year before but 55% below the 2015–16 total.59

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18. 05.18

    In its first three and a half years, Northern Ireland's ban on paying for sex produced 15 arrests and two convictions. A statutory review found it had “minimal effect on the demand for sexual services” and that online adverts rose from 3,351 to 3,973.62

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19. 05.19

    Between June 2015 and March 2025, Northern Ireland's prosecutors issued 22 prosecution decisions for paying for sex and 15 for attempting to, roughly four a year.63

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20. 05.20

    Since July 2025, sites hosting pornography in the UK must run “highly effective” age checks under the Online Safety Act. Ofcom can fine up to £18 million or 10% of worldwide revenue.64

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Prostitution has been counted in UK GDP since 2014. The number is large, and it is a model rather than a measurement. Survey data on what sex workers actually earn tells a more modest story.

1. 06.01

   The ONS estimates UK household spending on prostitution at £6.66 billion in 2025, up 3.9% on 2024 and 11% above 2019.23

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2. 06.02

   That is about 0.22% of UK GDP and 0.37% of all household spending.2325

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3. 06.03

   The series fell 31% in 2020, to £4.13 billion, an adjustment the ONS made for lockdown rather than an observed fall in sales.23

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4. 06.04

   Adjusted for prices, spending in 2025 (£6.44 billion) was still marginally below 2019 (£6.46 billion).24

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5. 06.05

   The ONS's implied price of sexual services rose about 34% between 2009 and 2025. It tracks consumer prices for personal services, not any observed rate.24

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6. 06.06

   The GDP figure multiplies an assumed workforce by 20 to 30 clients a week and a price of £55 a visit in 2004, uprated by inflation. The ONS itself calls part of the method “a weak assumption”.5

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7. 06.07

   When the ONS first added illegal activity to GDP in 2014, it put prostitution at £5.4 billion and illegal drugs at £3.7 billion for 2010, together 0.58% of GDP.26

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8. 06.08

   51.9% of internet-based sex workers reported gross annual earnings from sex work under £20,000; 10.1% earned £50,000 or more.7

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9. 06.09

   54% worked ten hours or fewer a week with clients, and 59.1% spent up to ten further hours a week on unpaid administration.7

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10. 06.10

    In a 2015 survey, 54% of internet-based sex workers earned under £1,500 a month from sex work; 10% earned more than £4,000.9

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11. 06.11

    76% of sex workers in a 2025 survey said they started because of financial need, and 32% because they were too unwell for other work.18

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12. 06.12

    70% of sex workers surveyed in late 2022 reported direct negative effects from the cost-of-living crisis.36

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13. 06.13

    In 2019 the charity Changing Lives told MPs it was working with 670 women selling sex across the north of England, in an inquiry into “survival sex” linked to Universal Credit.37

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14. 06.14

    Income from sex work is taxable. HMRC has treated it as a trade since a 1990 court ruling, and escort-agency services fall within VAT.3435

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15. 06.15

    OnlyFans' London-registered parent processed $7.2 billion in fan payments in the year to November 2024, kept $1.41 billion as revenue and paid $5.8 billion out to creators.2122

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16. 06.16

    The company paid $701 million in dividends to its owner in 2024, taking his total since 2021 to about $1.8 billion.22

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17. 06.17

    20% of OnlyFans' 2024 revenue ($284 million) came from the UK and Europe combined, against 64% from the United States. The company does not separate the UK in its accounts.21

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The best evidence on buyers comes from Britain's national sexual attitudes survey, last fielded in 2010 to 2012. A new wave reports at the end of 2026.

1. 07.01

   11% of men in Britain have paid for sex at some point; 3.6% have done so in the past five years and 1.1% in the past year.27

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2. 07.02

   Men aged 25 to 34 were the most likely to have paid recently (5.4% in five years). Lifetime prevalence peaked at 13.6% among men aged 55 to 64.27

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3. 07.03

   62.6% of men who had paid for sex in the past five years had done so outside the UK.27

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4. 07.04

   Men who pay for sex reported an STI diagnosis at 2.3 times the odds of other men, and were far more likely to report large numbers of unpaid partners.27

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5. 07.05

   In a 2024 poll, 9% of British men said they had ever paid for sex, against 10% in 2015.2930

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6. 07.06

   Among 1,323 men who buy sex online, 63% were aged 35 to 60, 35.5% were married and 38.2% single.8

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7. 07.07

   42.4% of online buyers paid for sex a few times a year and 31.5% once or twice a month. The most common monthly spend was £51 to £150.8

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8. 07.08

   47.5% had only ever bought sex via the internet; 86% bought from women and 13.8% from men.8

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9. 07.09

   Natsal-4, which interviewed about 19,000 people between 2022 and 2024, is due to publish its first results at the end of November 2026. This page will be updated when it does.28

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Violence against sex workers is common, concentrated on the street, and rarely reported to police. The most consistent finding across two decades of research is the reporting gap: most victims tell a charity, not an officer.

1. 08.01

   National Ugly Mugs received 756 reports of violence and other crimes against sex workers in 2024, containing 917 separate accounts of harm, a 29% rise on 2023.20

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2. 08.02

   Only 9% of those reporting in 2024 agreed to share their full details with police, down from 28% in 2012. 35% agreed to anonymous intelligence sharing, down from 95%.20

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3. 08.03

   The charity issued 1.09 million safety alerts to members in 2024 and more than 4.4 million since 2012. Its membership reached 10,238.20

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4. 08.04

   80.8% of internet-based sex workers had experienced at least one crime in the previous five years, most commonly persistent unwanted contact (65.1%), threatening messages (56.2%) and non-payment (53.8%).7

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5. 08.05

   15.6% of internet-based sex workers had been physically assaulted and 22.2% sexually assaulted in the previous five years.7

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6. 08.06

   23% had ever reported an incident to police. Fear that doing so would expose their sex work was the main reason for staying silent.7

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7. 08.07

   Of 2,056 crime reports to National Ugly Mugs between 2012 and 2016, 46.1% involved violence; 60.9% came from street-based workers and 93.9% of victims were women.65

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8. 08.08

   180 sex workers were murdered in the UK between 1990 and 2016, 110 of them in circumstances linked to their work.66

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9. 08.09

   78% of work-related homicide victims were street-based, but the pattern reversed after 2010, when more indoor than street workers were killed. Migrants rose from 6% of victims in the 1990s to 50%.66

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10. 08.10

    National Ugly Mugs records more than 200 people in the sex industry killed in the UK and Ireland since 1990, 31 of them by domestic partners.67

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11. 08.11

    In a London cohort, 53% of women selling sex had experienced physical or sexual violence from clients in the previous six months: 73% of street-based workers against 36% off-street. 14% had reported to police.68

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12. 08.12

    Recent displacement by police was associated with 4.4 times the odds of client violence among street-based workers.68

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13. 08.13

    Across nine studies, the share of sex workers who report victimisation to police ranges from 16.5% to 41%.69

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14. 08.14

    81% of outdoor and 48% of indoor sex workers in a three-city study had ever experienced violence from a client.15

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15. 08.15

    48.8% of internet-based sex workers were concerned about their online privacy, and 37.4% said information they had posted had been used without consent.7

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16. 08.16

    Research in 2021 found no UK bank known not to discriminate against sex workers, documenting closed accounts, frozen funds and blocked payments.82

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The UK has no national health statistics for sex workers. What exists comes from clinic data and academic studies, and it points to an indoor population with infection rates close to the general population and a street-based population with far higher needs.

1. 09.01

   Among 268 indoor-working women in London, HIV prevalence was 1.1%, syphilis 2.2% and chlamydia or gonorrhoea 6.4%.70

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2. 09.02

   Female sex workers attending sexual health clinics in England were newly diagnosed with HIV at the same rate as other women (0.2%), but had 2.75 times the odds of gonorrhoea and 1.93 times the odds of chlamydia.71

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3. 09.03

   61.6% of the 2,704 female sex workers seen at English clinics in 2011 were migrants.71

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4. 09.04

   51% of London sex workers screened positive for symptoms of anxiety and depression: 71% of street-based workers against 35% off-street.68

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5. 09.05

   All 71 street-based sex workers in a Bristol needs assessment reported drug or alcohol dependency, and 97% had been offered more money for sex without a condom.72

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6. 09.06

   The Home Office has estimated that 80% to 95% of street-based sex workers use heroin or crack cocaine.73

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7. 09.07

   75% of frontline workers supporting street sex workers said mainstream mental health services were inaccessible to them. Only Bristol and Leeds had dedicated GP drop-in clinics.74

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8. 09.08

   Attendance by people flagged as sex workers at English sexual health services fell from 3,831 in 2017 to 2,363 in 2021.75

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Trafficking statistics are often quoted as if they measured sex work. They do not. The National Referral Mechanism counts potential victims of all forms of modern slavery, most of them men in labour or criminal exploitation. The figures below are the sexual-exploitation subset, kept separate from consensual work.

1. 10.01

   A record 23,411 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the National Referral Mechanism in 2025, up 22% on 2024. 74% were male, and labour and criminal exploitation were the largest categories.76

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2. 10.02

   1,679 of those referrals, about 7%, reported sexual exploitation. Among female referrals the share was 28%.76

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3. 10.03

   Sexual-exploitation referrals were 1,546 in 2024 (31% of female referrals) and 1,080 in 2015.772

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4. 10.04

   In the first quarter of 2026, 440 potential victims reported sexual exploitation, again 28% of female referrals.78

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5. 10.05

   Referrals of Albanian women reporting sexual exploitation rose 13% to 232 in 2025, and duty-to-notify reports for Chinese women rose 50% to 246.76

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6. 10.06

   The Home Office's only official estimate of modern slavery victims, 10,000 to 13,000 in 2013, has never been repeated. The ONS says it “does not necessarily represent the true extent”.79

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7. 10.07

   A 2010 police assessment estimated that 2,600 of about 17,000 migrant women in off-street prostitution in England and Wales had been trafficked, about 15%. A further 54% were judged vulnerable and 31% independent.2

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8. 10.08

   In a study of 100 migrant sex workers in London, about 6% of the women said they had been deceived and forced into selling sex.2

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9. 10.09

   Between 2009 and 2013 there were 63 convictions for trafficking for sexual exploitation under the Sexual Offences Act, from 111 cases brought.2

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10. 10.10

    The Crown Prosecution Service brought 467 modern-slavery-flagged prosecutions between July 2023 and June 2024, 76% of them ending in conviction. It holds no breakdown by type of exploitation.80

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11. 10.11

    In 2017, 1,185 people were referred for sexual exploitation, 94% of them female and 39% Romanian.81

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British opinion has been consistently more liberal than British law for two decades. Majorities back the legality of paying for and selling sex, and majorities also want brothels and street soliciting to stay illegal.

1. 11.01

   52% of Britons say paying for sex should be legal and 28% say it should not. Men (64%) are far more supportive than women (41%).29

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2. 11.02

   57% say it should be legal to sell sex independently, but 53% say brothel-keeping should stay illegal and 72% say the same of street soliciting.29

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3. 11.03

   43% of Britons consider sex work “real work” (52% of men, 28% of women). 75% think sex workers face a great deal or fair amount of stigma.29

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4. 11.04

   53% of UK adults agree that consensual adult sex work should be fully decriminalised, and 61% say it should not be a crime for two sex workers to work together.31

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5. 11.05

   In Scotland, 47% say paying for sex should be legal and 32% say it should be an offence. 69% want MSPs to focus on sex workers' safety rather than new laws.32

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6. 11.06

   In 2015, 54% of Britons supported decriminalising prostitution and 21% opposed.30

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7. 11.07

   In 2008 opinion was almost evenly split: 50% thought buying sex should be legal and 43% illegal.33

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Every statistic above carries a bracketed number pointing to the source below. Where a figure has been recalculated or combined, the method section says how.

1. 1
   Erobella Data and ResearchErobella research
   How Many Sex Workers Are There in the UK? New 2025 Research (2025). Public write-up of the Weitzer, Bennett, Jensen et al. study; see Method
2. 2
   House of Commons Home Affairs CommitteeParliamentary report
   Prostitution: Third Report of Session 2016–17 (HC 26) (2016). Interim report; the inquiry did not produce a final report
3. 3
   Hester, Mulvihill, Matolcsi, Sanchez and Walker, University of Bristol, for the Home OfficeGovernment-commissioned research
   The nature and prevalence of prostitution and sex work in England and Wales today (2019)
4. 4
   Weitzer, Bennett, Jensen, Macioti, Yang, Kiki and ShavePreprint, not peer reviewed
   Estimating the Total Number of Sex Workers in the United Kingdom: A Comprehensive Analysis and 2025 Projection (SSRN preprint) (2025). One author is a member of Erobella's research team; see Method
5. 5
   Office for National Statistics (Abramsky and Drew)Official methodology
   Changes to National Accounts: Inclusion of Illegal Drugs and Prostitution in the UK National Accounts (2014). Mirror copy hosted by UN SIAP; the original ONS URL is no longer live
6. 6
   English Collective of ProstitutesCampaign fact sheet
   Facts about sex work. Citing Brooks-Gordon, Mai, Perry and Sanders (2015)
7. 7
   Sanders, Scoular, Campbell, Pitcher and Cunningham, Universities of Leicester and StrathclydeAcademic survey, n=641
   Beyond the Gaze: Summary Briefing on Internet Sex Work (2018)
8. 8
   Beyond the Gaze, Universities of Leicester and StrathclydeAcademic survey, n=1,323
   Briefing on Customers who Buy Sex Online (2018)
9. 9
   Sanders, University of Leeds, and National Ugly MugsAcademic survey, n=240
   Internet-based sex workers: working conditions, safety and job satisfaction (2015)
10. 10
    University of LeedsUniversity release
    Survey by Dr Teela Sanders reveals previous professions of sex workers (2015)
11. 11
    Yasseri et al.Peer-reviewed study
    Selling sex: what determines rates and popularity? An analysis of 11,500 online profiles (Culture, Health and Sexuality) (2022)
12. 12
    TAMPEP International FoundationNGO mapping study
    Sex Work in Europe: A mapping of the prostitution scene in 25 European countries (2009)
13. 13
    Sanders, Scoular, Campbell, Pitcher and CunninghamPeer-reviewed study
    The Point of Counting: Mapping the Internet Based Sex Industry (Social Sciences 7(5)) (2018)
14. 14
    Digital Ventures Ltd (Vivastreet)Parliamentary evidence
    Written evidence HUM0105 to the Home Affairs Committee inquiry into human trafficking (2023)
15. 15
    Church, Henderson, Barnard and HartPeer-reviewed study, n=240
    Violence by clients towards female prostitutes in different work settings (BMJ 322:524) (2001)
16. 16
    Sagar, Jones, Symons and Bowring, Swansea UniversityAcademic survey, n=6,773
    The Student Sex Work Project: Research Summary (2015)
17. 17
    Erobella Data and ResearchErobella survey, n=2,000
    Sex work at UK universities: 2025 study (2025). Commissioned by Erobella and fielded by Pollfish; see Method
18. 18
    Decrim NowCampaign survey, n=172, self-selecting
    Sex workers navigating gendered poverty, disability and autonomy: survey report (2025)
19. 19
    National Ugly MugsCharity research, London, n=116
    Leaving the Game: Summary Report (2024)
20. 20
    National Ugly MugsCharity annual report
    Trustees' Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 (2026)
21. 21
    Fenix International Limited (OnlyFans)Company accounts
    Group accounts for the year ended 30 November 2024, Companies House no. 10354575 (2025)
22. 22
    EuronewsPress report of company accounts
    OnlyFans takes $7.2bn from subscribers in 2024 as adult site booms (2025)
23. 23
    Office for National StatisticsOfficial statistics
    Consumer Trends time series MNC8: 12.2 Prostitution, current prices, not seasonally adjusted, £ million (release of 30 June 2026) (2026)
24. 24
    Office for National StatisticsOfficial statistics
    Consumer Trends time series MND2 (chained volume measure) and MND4 (implied deflator) for prostitution (2026)
25. 25
    Office for National StatisticsOfficial statistics
    Gross domestic product at current prices (YBHA) and household final consumption expenditure (ABJQ) (2026). Used as denominators for our GDP-share calculation
26. 26
    Office for National StatisticsFOI response
    Freedom of information response: Illegal production (N2) (2015)
27. 27
    Jones, Johnson, Wellings et al.Peer-reviewed study, n=6,108 men
    The prevalence of, and factors associated with, paying for sex among men resident in Britain: findings from Natsal-3 (Sexually Transmitted Infections 91:116–123) (2015)
28. 28
    National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and LifestylesSurvey programme
    Natsal-4 project page (2026)
29. 29
    YouGovOpinion poll
    What does Britain think of sex work and sex workers? (2024)
30. 30
    YouGovOpinion poll
    Majority support decriminalising prostitution (2015)
31. 31
    Amnesty International UK, polling by SavantaOpinion poll, n=2,208, commissioned by a campaigning organisation
    Over 60% of people agree it should not be a crime for sex workers to work together, new poll (2025)
32. 32
    National Ugly Mugs, polling by YouGovOpinion poll, n=1,088, commissioned by a sex-worker charity
    Scottish voters reject SNP's policy on sex work (2024)
33. 33
    Ipsos MORIOpinion poll, n=1,010
    Public's views on prostitution (2008)
34. 34
    HM Revenue and CustomsOfficial guidance
    Business Income Manual BIM65001: Prostitution (2026)
35. 35
    HM Revenue and CustomsOfficial guidance
    VAT Supply and Consideration manual VATSC30110: Illegal supplies
36. 36
    National Ugly MugsCharity research
    Sex Workers' Experiences of the Cost of Living Crisis (2022)
37. 37
    House of Commons Work and Pensions CommitteeParliamentary evidence
    Oral evidence: Universal Credit and survival sex, 22 May 2019 (2019)
38. 38
    Crown Prosecution ServiceProsecutorial guidance
    Legal guidance: Prostitution and Exploitation of Prostitution
39. 39
    legislation.gov.ukLegislation
    Street Offences Act 1959, section 1 (as amended by the Policing and Crime Act 2009)
40. 40
    legislation.gov.ukLegislation
    Sexual Offences Act 2003, sections 51A (soliciting) and 53A (paying for sexual services of a prostitute subjected to force)
41. 41
    legislation.gov.ukLegislation
    Sexual Offences Act 1956, section 33A (keeping a brothel used for prostitution)
42. 42
    legislation.gov.ukLegislation
    Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001, section 46 (placing of advertisements relating to prostitution)
43. 43
    legislation.gov.ukLegislation
    Crime and Policing Act 2026, section 116 (disregards for loitering or soliciting convictions received under 18) (2026)
44. 44
    legislation.gov.ukLegislation
    Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, section 46; Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Act 2007, section 1
45. 45
    legislation.gov.uk; nidirectLegislation
    Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015, section 15; nidirect guidance “Paying for sexual services” (2015)
46. 46
    Swedish Gender Equality AgencyGovernment agency
    Prostitution policy in Sweden: targeting demand
47. 47
    Office for National Statistics and Home OfficeOfficial statistics
    Crime in England and Wales: Appendix tables, year ending March 2026, Table A5a (police recorded crime by offence) (2026)
48. 48
    Ministry of JusticeOfficial statistics
    Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: December 2024, outcomes by offence 2017 to 2024 (2025). Offence codes 16604, 16701, 16702, 02417, 02418, 02419, 16503
49. 49
    Home OfficeParliamentary evidence
    Written evidence to the Home Affairs Committee inquiry into prostitution (PRO0236) (2016)
50. 50
    Crown Prosecution ServiceFOI response
    Freedom of information disclosure: Prosecutions for prostitution, keeping a brothel and trafficking for sexual exploitation (2023)
51. 51
    House of Commons Home Affairs CommitteeParliamentary press notice
    Decriminalise sex workers, says Home Affairs Committee (press notice, 1 July 2016) (2016)
52. 52
    Home OfficeGovernment response
    Prostitution: Government Response to the Third Report from the Home Affairs Committee (Cm 9361) (2016)
53. 53
    National Police Chiefs' CouncilPolice guidance
    Sex Work National Police Guidance (2025)
54. 54
    University of Huddersfield for Safer LeedsIndependent review
    An Independent Review of the Managed Approach to on-street sex working in Leeds, 2014–2020 (2020)
55. 55
    South Leeds LifeLocal press
    Holbeck's Managed Approach set to end (2021)
56. 56
    House of Commons Hansard, via TheyWorkForYouParliamentary record
    Modern Slavery Bill, report stage, 4 November 2014 (division on New Clause 22) (2014)
57. 57
    House of Commons Hansard, via TheyWorkForYouParliamentary record
    Crime and Policing Bill, report stage, 18 June 2025 (2025)
58. 58
    Scottish GovernmentFOI response
    FOI release 202500485945: Statistical data on arrests and convictions under section 46 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (2025)
59. 59
    Scottish GovernmentOfficial statistics
    Recorded Crime in Scotland 2024-25: sexual crimes (2025)
60. 60
    Scottish ParliamentParliamentary record
    Vote on motion S6M-20627: Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill, Stage 1, 3 February 2026 (2026)
61. 61
    Scottish Parliament Criminal Justice CommitteeParliamentary news
    Committee sets out its views on the general principles of the Prostitution (Offences and Support) (Scotland) Bill (2026)
62. 62
    Department of Justice (Northern Ireland) and Queen's University Belfast (Ellison et al.)Statutory review
    Assessment of the impact of the criminalisation of purchasing sexual services (Article 64A review) (2019)
63. 63
    Public Prosecution Service for Northern IrelandFOI response
    Freedom of information response: number of prosecutions regarding paying for sex, 1 June 2015 to 31 March 2025 (2025)
64. 64
    legislation.gov.ukLegislation
    Online Safety Act 2023, Part 5 (duties on providers of pornographic content) and Schedule 13 (penalties) (2023)
65. 65
    Connelly, Kamerāde and SandersPeer-reviewed study, 2,056 reports
    Violent and Nonviolent Crimes Against Sex Workers: The Influence of the Sex Market on Reporting Practices in the United Kingdom (Journal of Interpersonal Violence) (2021)
66. 66
    Cunningham, Sanders, Platt, Grenfell and MaciotiPeer-reviewed study
    Sex Work and Occupational Homicide: Analysis of a UK Murder Database (Homicide Studies 22(3)) (2018)
67. 67
    National Ugly MugsCharity statement
    International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers 2025 (2025)
68. 68
    Elmes, Stuart, Grenfell et al.Peer-reviewed study, n=197
    Effect of police enforcement and extreme social inequalities on violence and mental health among women who sell sex: findings from a cohort study in London (BMJ Open) (2022)
69. 69
    StruyfSystematic review
    To Report or Not to Report? A Systematic Review of Sex Workers' Willingness to Report Violence and Victimization to Police (Trauma, Violence and Abuse) (2023)
70. 70
    Platt, Grenfell, Bonell et al.Peer-reviewed study, n=268
    Risk of sexually transmitted infections and violence among indoor-working female sex workers in London (Sexually Transmitted Infections 87:377–384) (2011)
71. 71
    Mc Grath-Lone, Marsh, Hughes and Ward, Public Health EnglandPeer-reviewed study
    The sexual health of female sex workers compared with other women in England: analysis of cross-sectional data from genitourinary medicine clinics (Sexually Transmitted Infections) (2014)
72. 72
    Jeal and SalisburyPeer-reviewed study, n=71
    A health needs assessment of street-based prostitutes: cross-sectional survey (Journal of Public Health 26(2)) (2004)
73. 73
    Balfour and Allen, UCL Institute of Health Equity, for the Department of HealthGovernment-commissioned review
    A Review of the Literature on Sex Workers and Social Exclusion (2014). Citing Home Office, Paying the Price (2004)
74. 74
    Potter, Ferguson et al.Peer-reviewed study
    Access to healthcare for street sex workers in the UK: perspectives and best practice guidance from a national cross-sectional survey of frontline workers (BMC Health Services Research) (2022)
75. 75
    Birmingham City Council and University of BirminghamLocal authority needs assessment
    Sex Worker Health Needs Analysis (citing UKHSA GUMCAD data) (2024)
76. 76
    Home OfficeOfficial statistics
    Modern Slavery: National Referral Mechanism and Duty to Notify statistics UK, end of year summary 2025 (2026)
77. 77
    Home OfficeOfficial statistics
    Modern Slavery: National Referral Mechanism and Duty to Notify statistics UK, end of year summary 2024 (2025)
78. 78
    Home OfficeOfficial statistics
    Modern Slavery: NRM and Duty to Notify statistics UK, quarter 1 2026 (January to March) (2026)
79. 79
    Office for National StatisticsOfficial statistics
    Modern slavery in the UK: March 2020 (2020)
80. 80
    Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence CentreResearch centre report
    Barriers to prosecutions and convictions under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (2025)
81. 81
    All-Party Parliamentary Group on Prostitution and the Global Sex TradeParliamentary group report
    Behind Closed Doors: Organised sexual exploitation in England and Wales (2018). The group campaigns for the Nordic model; its NRM figures are from Home Office data
82. 82
    National Ugly MugsCharity research
    Payment Rejected: Financial Discrimination of Sex Workers (2021)