The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the deep-rooted social inequalities that prevail across the world. In recent months we have seen how the most marginalised, stigmatised and criminalised in society have been disproportionately impacted by the disease and government restrictions. As we begin to focus on the lessons to be learned from the pandemic and how we might build back better to achieve a more just and inclusive society, I argue that Covid-19 has revealed the need for urgent legal reform on sex work in the UK. In this blog, I argue that the criminalisation of the sex industry has left already vulnerable sex workers destitute, excluded from vital government financial support and facing difficult decisions in order to provide to survive. By drawing upon the unique example of New Zealand, I say that a model of full decriminalisation offers an alternative, whereby sex workers are respected, included and protected during a global health pandemic.
 

In a recent public statement, Amnesty International emphasised the multiple ways in which sex workers have been impacted, not only by the pandemic, but also by the emergency responses of governments:

A survey launched by the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) to understand the impact of Covid-19 similarly found that sex workers across Europe are facing increased levels of poverty, violence, discrimination and harassment as a result of the pandemic. In the UK, sex worker-led organisations have reported that sex workers are facing evictions from their homes, dangerous working conditions, food poverty and incidents of being publicly named and shamed for continuing to work throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to a report from the Work and Pensions Committee, years of austerity and recent problems with the Universal Credit social support system have resulted in an increasing number of women engaging in so-called ‘survival sex work’ in the UK in order to provide for themselves and families. Recent estimates suggest that there are around 80,000 sex workers across the country, the majority of whom are women and single mothers working to support their families. Deprived of an income by social distancing and lockdown measures, these women have felt the economic burden of the Covid-19 pandemic like millions of others across the country.

However, while workers in other industries have benefitted from financial support schemes offered by the British government, the criminalisation of sex work has left sex workers without a lifeline in these unprecedented times. While the individual sale of sex is legal in the UK, activities surrounding sex work, including kerb-crawling, soliciting in the street and brothel-owning are all criminalised. Consequently, women engaged in these kinds of sex work are have been denied the right to financial support in the form of the furlough scheme. Meanwhile, the historic stigmatisation of sex work in the UK has made qualifying for self-employment support schemes challenging, with sex workers reluctant to share information about their businesses with HMRC. Responses collected from the NSWP survey indicated the universality of this problem, with sex workers from across Europe finding themselves excluded from the social protection and financial safety nets offered to other workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
 

As a result, sex workers, who are already some of the poorest and most marginalised women in society, have been forced to make stark choices:
 

In stark contrast to the challenges faced by sex workers in the UK throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, New Zealand’s unique system of decriminalisation has offered an alternative, illustrating how sex workers can be better respected, included and protected. In 2003, New Zealand became one of the only countries in the world to fully decriminalise sex work, meaning that the sex industry is now regulated by labour laws, and sex workers are afforded workers’ rights.
 
The positive effects of this drastic legal reform on the safety and wellbeing of sex workers has been particularly highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic. While the Covid-19 lockdown in New Zealand resulted in a loss of income for sex workers as elsewhere, sex workers have been entitled to receive the same wage subsidy grants and sick pay as workers in other industries. Meanwhile, government outreach workers have worked actively and collaboratively with sex worker-led organisations to ensure that sex workers in desperate need of financial support have been able to access it quickly. Far from being left on the brink of poverty as seen in the UK, sex workers in New Zealand have reported applying for the government’s emergency wage subsidy for all workers and receiving financial support to replace lost earnings within just two days.
 

Sex workers and their allies have long been demanding a change to the laws surrounding sex work in the UK. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed more than ever how the current British system detrimentally affects some of the most marginalised women in our society. While feminists, politicians and the wider population alike may disagree on the morality of the sex industry, this global health pandemic has given us all pause for thought as to how we can better protect vulnerable populations in times of unprecedented hardship. If we are to achieve a more just and inclusive society post-Covid, we must add our voices to those of sex workers demanding legal reform. Until this happens and while social distancing measures remain in place, sex workers in the UK will continue to face little choice but to risk their own health, and that of their families, to ensure that food remains on the table. Meanwhile, New Zealand’s decriminalised system continues to offer the world an example of an achievable alternative, in which the government respects, protects and includes people who sell sex.