The Work and Pensions Committee is calling for evidence about a
possible link between Universal Credit and “survival sex”.
“Survival sex”
Changing Lives, a
charity supporting women working in
prostitution, distinguishes “survival sex” from
other forms of sex work (such as escorting), and defines
it as:
Women regularly [exchanging] sex to meet survival needs,
monetary or otherwise. Alternative currencies include somewhere
to sleep, alcohol, drugs, food and tobacco.
The Committee has opened this phase in its Universal Credit
inquiry in response to
reports from charities and support organisations
that increasing numbers of people—overwhelmingly women—have been
getting involved in “survival sex” as a direct result of welfare
policy changes. These include the roll-out of Universal Credit.
In his recent
report on extreme poverty in the UK, the UN Special
Rapporteur, Professor Philip Alston, described meeting people
who:
Depend on food banks and charities for their next meal, who
are sleeping on friends’ couches because they are homeless and
don’t have a safe place for their children to sleep, who have
sold sex for money or shelter[.]
Through its work on different aspects of Universal
Credit over the last two years, the Committee has
identified number of features of the policy that may
contribute to claimants having difficulty meeting survival needs.
For example:
- The wait for
a first payment, which is a minimum of five weeks but can be a
lot longer;
- The
accumulation of debt: for example, as a result of third-party
deductions to benefits or taking out an Advance Payment at the
start of a claim;
- Sanctions,
which are applied at a higher rate under Universal Credit than
under the system it replaces.
Rt Hon MP, Chair of the Committee,
said: “We have heard sufficient evidence, and
are sufficiently worried, to launch this inquiry to begin to
establish what lies behind the shocking reports of people being
forced to exchange sex to meet survival needs. This is an
investigation, and we do not yet know what we will uncover.
But if the evidence points to a direct link between this
kind of survival sex and the administrative failures of Universal
Credit, Ministers cannot fail to act.”
Call for evidence
The Committee is inviting anyone with experience of or affected
by this issue, in any capacity, to send us a written submissions
on any or all of the following questions:
- What
features of Universal Credit might drive people into “survival
sex”? How does Universal Credit compare to the previous benefits
system in this respect?
- How
widespread is this problem? To what extent are any increases in
prevalence directly attributable to Universal Credit?
- Are some
claimants at particular risk of turning to “survival sex”? If so,
who are they and what are the risk factors?
- What changes
to Universal Credit could help tackle this problem and better
protect claimants?
- What role
should Jobcentre Plus play in supporting claimants who are
involved in “survival sex” or sex work more widely?
Notes:
We’d like to get evidence submissions by Monday 29 April 2019. We
will hear oral evidence in Parliament later in this inquiry. A
full new inquiry page with evidence submission portal and
safeguarding and signposting links will appear on our website
when the inquiry goes live after midnight.
