Let's say it again: prostitution is legal in the UK.
But many of the activities surrounding the exchange of sex for money or other goods are criminal offences, even if many of them are rarely prosecuted.
Many of the laws have changed as a result of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which came into force on 1st May 2004. (If you need to know the previous situation, see here.)
Contact us for up to date advice. Citizens Advice Bureau and Law Centres are also useful if you don't qualify for legal aid.
Important notes
SOA
Shorthand for the Sexual Offences Act of a particular year (eg 1956, 1967, 1985, 2003..)
Male and Female Workers
The law is now gender-neutral and applies equally to men & women.
Transsexuals
In April 2005, the Gender Recognition Act 2004 came into force, and it will be possible to legally change gender for virtually all purposes. See Press For Change's website for more detail and analysis.
Under 18?
It is now illegal for people to pay someone under 18 for sex, even if the sex would otherwise be legal (e.g. you are both at least 16). It's not a crime for you to sell it - only your clients are breaking the law, along with anyone else who controls or gains from your prostitution.
Scotland and Ireland
As we're based in London, we know more about the law in England & Wales than we do about the law in Scotland (which has its own legal system and Parliament) and Northern Ireland. The situation in the Republic of Ireland is very similar to that in England and Wales.
Where we know of differences, they will be mentioned. Consult a local sex work project or lawyer for more information (and please do tell us of anything we've missed!)
Comments? Queries?
Street work
Soliciting
Highway obstruction
Anti-Social Behaviour Orders
Kerb-crawling
Scotland
Working alone
Maids
Planning regulations
Breach of tenancy agreements
Disorderly houses
Escort agencies
Brothels / massage parlours etc
What is a brothel?
Knowledge
Keeping, managing or assisting in its management
Maids
Allowing children in brothels
Licencing
Planning regulations
Landlords and tenants
Disorderly houses
Other sex work
Porn
Stripping / Dancing
Telephone sex
'Near beer' venues
Clipping
Sex work law generally
"Prostitute"
Living on the earnings of prostitution
Exploitation of prostitution
Trafficking
Advertising
Accepting prostitutes' ads
Conspiracy to corrupt public morals
Call cards in phone boxes
Other Issues
Assault and SM
Non EU citizens
False ID's
Drugs
Tax Evasion
Benefit Fraud
Sex Offenders Register
Sexual Offences Prevention Orders
Street work
The police often target 'street work' over 'indoor work' because it's more visible and, particularly in residential areas, often attracts complaints from the public.
Soliciting: Under the Street Offences Act 1959, it is an offence for a common prostitute to loiter or solicit in a street or public place for the purpose of prostitution.
Common prostitute has been defined as someone who offers their body 'commonly' (i.e. 'frequently') for sexual services in return for payment. Men can now be common prostitutes.
Loitering or soliciting includes any tempting or alluring of prospective customers, through words, winks, glances, gestures, smiles or provocative movements. You don't have to move: in 1976 someone was found guilty for sitting, stationary, in a window - it was held that she was still tempting clients in for the purpose of prostitution.
Street or public place includes any road or lane, subway, court, square, alley, passageway, doorway or entrance to premises adjoining a street. It also covers working from windows and balconies and in public areas of hotels.
Before you can be charged with this, you need to have been given two 'street cautions' within the last year. They are given verbally on location, on the evidence of two or more police officers, and are kept on police records. It is possible to receive both warnings and be charged in a single day or night.
If you receive a street caution when you weren't in fact working, you can apply to the Magistrates Court for the area within 14 days to have details of the caution taken off police records. The Magistrate will hear evidence from both parties in a private court.
The advantage of this system is that they mean the police must warn you that continued soliciting may lead to an arrest, before actually arresting you.
The problem is that, as the cautions will be referred to if you are taken to court for soliciting, magistrates may simply 'rubber stamp' police assertions that you were doing so on the occasion in question.
It should be up to the police to prove beyond reasonable doubt that you were in fact soliciting on a particular occasion, as opposed to, for example, waiting for a friend. It's worth taking careful note of your circumstances and surroundings at the time of your arrest - for example, the exact whereabouts of this car or that person - to help you to challenge inaccurate assertions.
The penalty is a fine.
Under 16?
You can be charged with soliciting even though you are under 16 (but over 13) and can't give lawful consent to sexual acts. But the first few times you are caught you are likely to be taken into police protection under the Children Act 1989 section 46, then handed into the care of the Social Services, a parent or guardian or some other agency.
Anyone buying sex involving someone under 16 is highly likely to be prosecuted if caught and the penalty is up to fourteen years imprisonment (life if under 13).
Other laws used against street workers include:
Highway Obstruction
If a person, without lawful authority or excuse, in any way wilfully obstructs the free passage along a highway he is guilty of an offence under the Highways Act 1980 section 137. The penalty is a fine.
Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs)
ASBOs were created by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. They enable the police or local council to apply to magistrates for an order to control 'anti-social' behaviour, defined as "a manner that caused or was likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household".
There is a disturbing trend to use these in preference to prosecuting under the soliciting laws. Not only is the standard of proof needed to obtain an ASBO lower than in a criminal trial, but breaching an order can result in up to five years imprisonment rather than the fine for soliciting.
Orders last for at least two years. Recent orders have included demands that the person not go to a particular area; not associate with particular people; and even not to purchase more than twelve condoms at a time.
Kerb-Crawling
Street work is one of the few areas of sex work were the clients of adult workers can be criminalized.
The SOA 1985 created two rather clumsily worded offences concerning the solicitation of women by men for the purpose of prostitution. It has now been made gender-neutral, i.e. applies to women clients and male workers too.
(1) Kerb-crawling
A person commits an offence if he solicits another person or persons for the purpose of prostitution
(a) from a motor vehicle while it is in a street or public place or
(b) in a street or public place while in the immediate vicinity of a motor vehicle he has just got out of,
either persistently or in a manner likely to cause a nuisance to the solicited person or to other persons in the neighbourhood.
(2) Persistent soliciting
A person commits an offence if in a street or public place he persistently solicits another person or persons for the purposes of prostitution.
For both sections, the penalty is a level three fine (currently up to £1,000).
Kerb-crawling has also since been made an arrestable offence. Typically, the man's details are noted down and sent to the Crown Prosecution Service who will decide whether there is enough evidence of persistence, annoyance or nuisance to prosecute.
Often the matter is disposed of by a letter being sent to the home address of the offender to deter him, however there is now also the power to confiscate the motor vehicle used.
In Scotland
In Scotland street workers fall under the The Civil Government (Scotland) Act 1982, which prohibits loitering, soliciting or importuning in a public place.
There is no specific law in Scotland against kerb-crawlers, although they might be charged with causing a breach of the peace.
Working alone
It is legal to provide sexual services in a house or flat as long as there is only one person selling sex. If there are more than that, even at different times, the premises can be classified as a brothel and you may be at risk from SOA 1956 sections 33 and 33a.
It's worth being aware of the potential problems you may face even in working alone indoors.
Maids
Though it is legal to have a 'maid' or 'housekeeper' to assist you and to increase your safety the police may allege that the maid is selling sex and that therefore the premises count as a brothel, especially if he or she is young. They may claim that a maid has to be over a certain age. This is not true. The only relevant issue is whether or not the maid was having sex on the premises.
See here for more issues relevant to maids themselves.
Planning Regulations
You may be in breach of planning regulations. If you work from home the test is whether or not the main use of your property remains residential. Factors relevant to this include the proportion of space given over to business, numbers of clients, whether there are employees and the potential nuisance to neighbours.
If you rent premises especially for the purpose of work, clearly the main use of the property is not residential and you risk being found to be in breach of the regulations.
In practice the planning authorities tend to become involved only as a result of complaints from neighbours or police intervention. They can enter your property if they give you 24 hours notice or if you consent. If they think you are breaching regulations, and if they decide to take action and are successful, you will be asked to stop working. If you persist, you may be prosecuted and fined.
The bigger and noisier your operation, the more likely you are to face intervention.
In London, if you advertise massage services, the premises need a licence.
Breach of Tenancy Agreement
If you rent the property, using it for prostitution may be a breach of a term in your tenancy agreement prohibiting 'illegal or immoral' use. If your landlord finds out s/he might ask you to stop working, and could eventually sue you for damages or start possession proceedings. You cannot be evicted overnight - the landlord will have to take you to court, following strict procedures. If you have problems, consult a solicitor, Law Centre or Citizens Advice Bureau.
In addition, if you are renting from someone who's a tenant themselves, rather than the owner of the property, they will be committing an offence by renting to you.
Keeping a Disorderly House
It is possible, but very rare,for a person working alone to be charged with this offence.
ESCORT AGENCIES
Working for
It is legal to work for escort agencies, whether or not you are offering sexual services.
Some agencies rip you off and offer no protection whatsoever. Shop around for agencies which look out for your safety and offer reasonable terms and conditions. Try to work for places that have been recommended by other workers.
Running
Escort agencies where the staff are only providing 'social escort' services, rather than sexual services, are legal.
As everyone knows, these are in a very small minority and the vast majority of escort agencies involve the owners operating illegally. What stops them being raided and closed down is that agencies tend to be much lower down the list of police priorities than streetwork or brothels.
However if the police do decide to take an interest in you, they have repeatedly demonstrated they are quite prepared to pose as clients and potential workers in order to prove you know what's really going on, despite disclaimers like "Any fees paid to our escorts are for time and companionship only and anything else that may occur is a matter of personal choice between two consenting adults only". Nice try, but it won't save you.
The law in this area was changed completely, so we await some prosecutions to see just what the effect will be, but you almost certainly do not want to be the test case!
'Causing or inciting prostitution for gain' is likely to include saying things such as 'no experience required' when advertising for new staff. It's ok – under this clause anyway – to employ someone who's already a prostitute, i.e. someone who's ever given or offered any sexual service for money. But employing someone who says they never have done so will become very risky.
The control aspect of 'Controlling prostitution for gain' almost certainly includes, for example, telling someone where to go, i.e. what escort agencies do when sending staff to clients. Looked at another way, if you couldn't control it, i.e. send someone, no-one would call you!
The penalty for both is up to six months or a fine in a magistrate's court, seven years in a crown court. The larger your agency, and the more money you have made, the greater the chance of ending up in the latter. Plus if any of the staff are under 18, then no element of gain is necessary and the maximum penalty is increased to fourteen years.
We think it is unlikely that agencies who are employing adults who have clearly made a entirely voluntary choice to do the work will be charged with 'Trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation', but if you are being prosecuted for 'controlling prostitution for gain' and have helped your staff move around (for example by booking taxis for them or having drivers take escorts to bookings) then it is a possibility.
The penalty is up to six months or a fine in a magistrate's court, fourteen years in a crown court.
Until it's clear that it will not be used in this way, it could be an example of a law that puts at risk people it seeks to protect - having drivers take escorts is safer than having them go to bookings alone, but agencies may decide not to take a chance with being charged with trafficking.
Brothels / Massage Parlours etc
Working for
It is legal to work as a prostitute in a brothel, but see the following section too and be careful that is all your job entails.
Running
Owners and managers are definitely liable to the 'exploitation of prostitution' section of the SOA 2003. Each carries a penalty is up to six months or a fine in a magistrate's court, seven years in a crown court. The larger your operation, the larger the chance that you will end up in the latter - the police in some areas may tolerate single brothels, but chains are a higher priority for all police forces.
In addition, the SOA 1956 section on brothels has been amended following the police successfully lobbying government to increase the 'Penalties For Keeping A Brothel' to cover those cases where they could not prove control.
Because the definition of a brothel is so wide - it covers gay saunas, clubs where people have sex on the premises and arguably just about every hotel in the country - the SOA 2003 added a new section 33a to the 1956 Act covering brothels "to which people resort for practices involving prostitution (whether or not also for other practices)."
This also has a maximum penalty of six months or a fine in a magistrate's court, seven years in a crown court. (For brothels not involving prostitution, the penalty remains up to six months or a fine.)
It is an offence for a person to keep, or to manage, or act or assist in the management of, a brothel
What the prosecution has to prove
(i) That the premises you are working in classify as a brothel and
(ii) that you were aware of this and
(iii) that you were keeping, managing or assisting in its management.
(i) What is a Brothel?
Any premises - including private flats, saunas, massage parlours - will be classed as a brothel if they are used by more than one man or woman for 'physical acts of indecency for ... sexual gratification', whether on the same day or on different days - 'in series or in tandem'. The sexual services do not necessarily have to include sexual intercourse or, indeed, payment!
So if you share premises with someone else and work on alternate days or weeks, they will count a brothel even though there is never more than one person working at any one time.
Where rooms or flats in one building are let separately to different individuals offering sexual services, the premises as a whole may still count as a brothel if the individuals are effectively working together. Evidence of shared keys, washing and toilet facilities, staircases, tenancy agreements etc will be relevant.
If you are the only person who provides sexual services on premises, with or without the assistance of a non-sex working maid or receptionist, the premises are not a brothel.
(ii) Knowledge
To be guilty, you have to have been aware of the circumstances which made the premises a brothel. So if you work on premises for, say, two days a week and have no idea what they are used for on the other days, you have a defence. But the court may 'infer' knowledge if they think you were blinding yourself to the obvious.
(iii) Keeping, managing or assisting in its management
Again, working as a sex worker, or in any other capacity, in a brothel is not of itself an offence.
The police have to show that you were 'managing', or assisting in the management of, the operation in some way. Whether or not you are the tenant or occupier of the premises is immaterial in deciding this question - but see offences relating to tenants.
You have to have some degree of 'control' over the running of the business. If you have a say in what services are offered and how much is paid for them, this is control. Taking money from clients and noting its receipt in a cashbook; putting up advertisements; paying bills; hiring and firing staff; supplying materials; banking and book keeping, have all been held to amount to a sufficient degree of control.
Activities such as admitting customers, cleaning, removing rubbish, making coffee or other duties of a trivial nature are not sufficient.
If you are providing sexual services but the prices and the services have been set beforehand by someone else, and you have no power to discuss or vary them, you cannot be said to have the requisite degree of control.
There are no hard and fast rules for what activities amount to this offence. Each individual case will be considered on its own merits, and you should seek legal advice.
In one case in 2005, a woman subletting her working flat for a couple of days a week was found guilty of running a brothel. She was also being chased for the presumed earnings of the 'brothel' for the past decade.
Other Offences Concerning Brothels
Maids
Maids or housekeepers in brothels are clearly at risk from section 33(a). But if your involvement is of a 'menial' nature and you have no control over prices and services, generally you will be committing no offence. It may be useful to have a clear idea of what your duties are to guard against unfair prosecution or conviction.
See here for more issues relevant to maids themselves.
Allowing Children in Brothels
It is an offence under section 3 of the Children and Young Person Act 1933 to allow a child or young person who is between 4 and 15 inclusive and who you are responsible for to reside in or to frequent a brothel.
Licensing
If you are advertising massage services and you live in London, a licence is required under the London Local Authorities Act 1991. If you are outside London there may be similar requirements.
Check what the position is in your area.
Planning
If you are running a brothel from residential premises you are likely to be in breach of planning regulations. See under 'Working Alone'.
Landlords and Tenants
It is an offence under SOA 1956 section 34 for a landlord to let premises knowing that they are to be used as a brothel, or to wilfully allow their continued use as a brothel.
A landlord commits no offence by allowing premises to be used for prostitution by a single person. (As the offence of 'living on the earnings of prostitution' has been abolished, they can also now charge a higher rent than they would anyone else, as they have no element of control over the work.)
It is also an offence under SOA 1956 section 35 for a tenant, occupier or any person in charge of premises to knowingly permit them to be used as a brothel. If a tenant is convicted of this offence the landlord may have the right to terminate the lease.
In contrast to the landlord's situation, it is also an offence under SOA 1956 section 36 for a tenant to knowingly permit their premises to be used for prostitution by a single person, even though that person is not doing anything illegal.
Disorderly Houses
It is an offence under the Disorderly Houses Act 1751, and under common law, to keep a 'disorderly house' used by members of the public.
A disorderly house is a house 'not regulated by the restraints of morality, and which is so conducted as to violate law and good order'.
It may be used where there are complaints from the public, live sex shows or premises specialising in SM services. It applies to both men and women, and may be used against individuals working alone as well as against groups. Whoever appears to be 'keeping' the house may be found guilty.
Other sex work
Porn
Provided you're at least 18, it's legal to perform in a porn film / photo shoot. To the dismay of the then Home Secretary, the appeals panel of the British Board of Film Classification and the courts decided to agree with juries: unless a film involves children, animals, or extreme violence etc, then it should qualify for an R18 certificate.
Anyone possessing any indecent images - including entirely fictitious 'pseudo-photographs' - of someone under 18 is committing a serious offence (unless the person featured is at least 16, married to the person possessing them and they do not involve any third party).
Stripping / Dancing
Both legal. Some lap / table-dancing clubs charge their dancers a fee to work there, and expect them to work for tips alone. Sadly, this is legal - it creates an incentive for the club to have more staff than customer demand would suggest - but if dancers refused to work at such places, then the clubs will need to alter their policy.
The venue will almost certainly need a licence.
Telephone sex
There are few laws against this. It is illegal under the Post Office Acts to use the public telecommunications network to transmit indecent material. We don't know of anyone who has ever been prosecuted for this, except in the case of unwanted obscene phone calls.
The Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS) is the industry-funded regulatory body for all premium rate charged telecommunications services, including 09xxx telephone numbers. Anyone wishing to run a 'sexual entertainment' service using a premium rate number needs to get their permission first.
Their code of practice includes the following:
4.2.1 Services and promotional material must not:
a - contain material indicating violence, sadism or cruelty, or be of a repulsive or horrible nature,
b - involve the use of foul language.
4.2.2 Services and promotional material must not, or must not be likely to:
a - result in any unreasonable invasion of privacy,
b - induce an unacceptable sense of fear or anxiety,
c - encourage or incite any person to engage in dangerous practices or to use harmful substances,
d - induce or promote racial disharmony,
e - cause grave or widespread offence,
f - debase, degrade or demean,
g - promote or facilitate prostitution.
The last one is particularly ironic because being an phone sex operator probably makes you a prostitute under UK law (talking providing a sexual service for money).
The prohibition on 'foul language' is also amusing, but a comment in one of their guidelines indicates what they regard as taboo:
All service providers are reminded of the general requirement in the Code of Practice that services must comply with general standards of decency, avoiding violent or sadistic material, material that could cause grave offence or which debases, demeans, degrades or is repulsive. Specific, but not exclusive, examples would include services implying or showing the involvement of children, animals and non-consensual sex.
If you fail to obey these codes of conduct, they have the power to have services disconnected and impose fines. In practice, they seem to be much more concerned with how services are advertised and billed for than they are with content.
'Near Beer' venues
London's Soho in particular is plagued with these. Customers are enticed in with the promise of a live sex show or erotic dancing / modeling for a token sum.
But once they've sat down and ordered something to drink, they are soon presented with an extremely large bill, typically several hundred pounds. When they object, they are shown some small print on a menu indicating cover charges or 'hostess fees'. Often some 'heavies' will appear and 'offer' to escort the customer to the nearest bank machine to withdraw the necessary cash.
Because of licensing laws, the drinks at such venues have at most very low alcohol content, hence the name 'near beer'.
It's illegal under the London Local Authorities Act 1995 to run such a venue without a licence. Several owners and staff have recently been charged with demanding money with menaces.
Clipping
If you take money from a potential client intending not to perform the service offered, you are guilty of obtaining property by deception. The client has not committed an offence himself, and although some people may not wish to report the incident, others will have no qualms in doing so - or in seeking revenge in other ways - although they may have problems in proving their case.
Sex work laws generally
"Prostitute"
The SOA 2003 created a new, and somewhat problematic, definition:
Someone is a 'prostitute' if they have, on at least one occasion and whether or not compelled to do so, offered or provided sexual services to another person in return for any financial arrangement.
So... offer to kiss (a sexual service) someone once for a million pounds and you're a prostitute for life, according to this anyway, even if someone had a gun to your head at the time.
Living on the earnings of prostitution
The law in this area has been completely changed.
In the past, a woman could not be charged with living on the earnings of another woman's prostitution, but could be charged with living on the earnings of male prostitution. Men could be charged with both offences, and both sexes could be charged with controlling someone else's prostitution. As a result, partners and families of prostitutes were at risk of these laws, as well as the 'pimps' they were aimed at.
Now it is necessary - if the prostitute is at least 18 - to have both some control over their work as well as to gain (or know someone else is) from it.
Section 52 of the SOA 2003 'Causing or inciting prostitution for gain' covers doing something to encourage someone to become a prostitute, anywhere in the world, in the expectation that you or anyone else will gain as a result.
This is likely to include saying things such as 'no experience required' when advertising for new staff. It's ok – under this clause anyway – to employ someone who's already a prostitute, i.e. someone who's ever given or offered any sexual service for money. But employing someone who says they never have done so will become very risky.
Section 53 of the SOA 2003 'Controlling prostitution for gain' is very likely to include telling someone where to go and who to see, as well as setting prices, working hours etc.
The penalty for both is up to six months or a fine in a magistrate's court, seven years in a crown court.
Worker under 18? No element of gain is necessary, and the maximum penalty is increased to fourteen years.
Section 56 of the SOA 2003 'Trafficking within the UK for sexual exploitation' prohibits "arranging or facilitating the movement of someone when intending to do or facilitate anything which if done would involve the commission of an offence" in the Act (e.g. the exploitation of prostitution sections).
The penalty is up to six months or a fine in a magistrate's court, fourteen years in a crown court.
Advertising
It is not illegal to advertise sexual services, although if the ads are extremely graphic and are likely to 'deprave or corrupt' persons likely to see them, they may fall foul of the Obscene Publications Act 1959.
Standards have changed: as recently as the early 1990s, no publisher would have dared print some of the escort ads in gay magazines now.
But even today some directories, such as Yellow Pages and Thomson, are reluctant to display ads from massage parlours and agencies, particularly outside Central London.
Accepting prostitutes' ads
Anyone involved with a magazine, newspaper, shop, radio or TV station which earns advertising revenue from prostitution is now no longer liable to be prosecuted for living on the earnings of prostitution - they have no element of control over the work and thus fall outside the scope of controlling for gain.
Conspiracy to corrupt public morals
This was what the publishers of prostitutes' ads and gay personal ads were convicted of in the 1960s and 70s. In confirming the convictions, the House of Lords remarked that morality was something to be left to juries to consider, and it is highly unlikely that a prosecution would succeed today.
Call Cards in telephone boxes
Although a fascinating record of tastes, prostitutes' cards in telephone kiosks have always been highly unpopular with BT and councils such as Westminster and the long battle between them and the 'carders' placing them in the kiosks was almost as entertaining to watch as some of the cards themselves.
Attempting to prosecute carders for criminal damage - the residue left from stickers - just meant carders started to use blu-tac to stick them to the walls, or wedged them between cracks.
The next round involved prosecutions for littering or unauthorised advertising under the Environmental Protection or Town and Country Planning acts of 1990. That also failed - kiosks are not public open spaces and police do not have seizure powers under either of those acts.
Around 1996, BT tried to introduce new terms and conditions of hire allowing them to suspend the phone lines of people advertising their numbers in kiosks. This was successfully challenged by the 'London Committee of Call Girls', a group of working women.
BT thought they had finally won this stage of the battle by BT with the introduction of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001. Section 46 prohibits someone placing "on, or in the immediate vicinity of, a public telephone an advertisement relating to prostitution" if done so "with the intention that the advertisement should come to the attention of any other person or persons." It does not apply to phones in places where under-16s are not allowed.
The penalty is up to six months imprisonment or a level five fine (currently £5,000). The effect was to remove virtually all cards from London phone boxes... but they've since made a return in several areas.
At one point, the website of the Magistrates Association included a carding case (for more than one brothel and 'near' schools) as an example of a case magistrates could be asked to consider. They suggested that someone carding should be imprisoned for a second such offence.
Should carding become an issue in places other than phone boxes, Section 47 gives the Secretary of State the power, with the permission of Parliament, to extend the prohibition to other 'public structures'. The example given in debate was bus shelters. As far as we can see, no such orders have been made.
Other Issues
Assault and sadomasochism
If you offer sadomasochistic services involving the infliction of blows or other injuries intended or likely to cause bodily harm which is more than 'transient or trifling', you yourself may be charged with assault. Although assault usually requires an absence of consent, it has been held that it is not in the public interest that a person should harm another in order to gratify sexual desire. Thus the fact that the client requested or consented to the blows may be no defence.
Non EU workers
Employees
If you are working illegally, you may face removal or deportation if the police find out.
If you need help, consult a solicitor, Citizens Advice Bureau, or law centre.
Employers
The Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, section 8, makes it an offence for an employer to employ someone of 16 or over who does not have permission to be in, or to work in, the United Kingdom.
The requirement only applies to employees taken on after January 27th 1997.
If you try to avoid prosecution by refusing to consider for a job anyone who looks or sounds foreign, you could contravene the Race Relations Act 1976.
But if you see and keep a copy of one or more of certain specified documents before taking on a new employee you will not be guilty of the offence even if they turn out not to have the necessary permission, provided you didn't realise they were not entitled to work when you took them on.
The specified documents are:
- an official document giving the persons name and national insurance number, for example a P45, NI card, old payslip
- a passport confirming that the person is a British or other European Economic Area national, or which shows that the person is entitled to live in the UK
- a birth certificate showing the person's birth in the UK or the Republic of Ireland
- a letter from the Home Office confirming that the person is allowed to work.
The maximum penalty that can be levied against an employer is £5,000.
If you are not an employer, you are not at risk from this section. An important factor is whether or not you pay wages to anyone. If, for example, you run an escort agency and your escorts are self employed and pay you a cut of what they earn, you are probably not an employer.
If in doubt seek legal advice.
False ID's
It is legal to use any name you want.
But if you have given a false name with the intention of avoiding outstanding fines or the disclosure of a criminal record, it's possible to be charged with fraud, obstructing a police officer in the execution of his/her duty or, very rarely, attempting to pervert the course of justice.
If you give a false name and this is discovered, it may jeopardise your chances of getting bail.
Drugs Offences
Sex work can bring you into contact with drugs of all sorts. If these are controlled by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, it is a criminal offence to possess them or to share, give or sell them.
Drug use in working flats and brothels can attract police attention. If you are working on the streets and the police arrest you for soliciting and you have drugs on you, you may end up being charged with the drugs as well.
If you have problems with drugs you can get advice and information from Release or your local drug project.
Tax Evasion
Sex workers are liable to declare their earnings and pay taxes like everyone else.
Over the years, several prostitutes have claimed in court that they should not have to pay taxes as that would result in the government living on the earnings of prostitution. None of them have succeeded in anything other than making lawyers richer: even if sex work were illegal, earnings from it would still be taxable.
The positive side is that as with other businesses you may be entitled to deduct expenses such as the cost of advertising, condoms, lube, toys, magazines, videos, rent etc. Ask around to find a good accountant.
If you don't pay income tax and are discovered, HM Customs and Revenue can present you with a large bill based on their assessment of your undeclared earnings. They can go back a maximum of 12 years, and it's up to you to challenge their figures. Your life will be much happier if you are not in this position!
If you do come to their attention, voluntarily or otherwise, what the HMCR have tended to do is send an assessment for a ridiculous amount as a way of making sure they don't undercharge you. People in cash industries - like sex work - tend to get particularly silly initial assessments.
Why? If you get a bill for tax on £50,000 and you in fact earned £100,000, there is obviously going to be a temptation to say 'yes, that's right' and pay the lower bill.
But if it's the other way around, it becomes in your interest (and makes their life easier) to be able to demonstrate that their initial assessment is wrong. And that needs good record keeping - a diary of clients, income, expenditure etc.
HM Customs and Revenue are also responsible for collecting VAT. Most businesses with a turnover (not profit!) of £60,000 a year (the threshold in 2005) should be registered as soon as they reach that threshold. As this is not much over £1,000 a week, this will include virtually all escort agencies and brothels as well as some individuals.
Most people's experience is that if you are honest with them, they are fair in return. If you are not, HMCR sometimes works in conjunction with the police, accompanying them on raids. In some areas, they have more powers than the police and, again, your life will be very much happier if you are not on the receiving end of their wrath.
HMCR staff have been known to sit outside establishments, counting clients to compare with the declared income, and to compare lists of businesses and people advertising with the lists of people who have registered for VAT. Some agencies have also reported their competitors to the tax fraud hotline.
There were more details on both Income Tax and VAT on the excellent tax4escorts.co.uk website, currently under reconstruction here.
Benefit Fraud
If you're claiming benefit at the same time as working, and have not declared it, you may be guilty of fraud. If you are found out, which can happen if, for example, you get involved with the police for any reason, you will be investigated. You may be asked to repay any overpayments and/or you may be prosecuted and fined by a court. Your benefit cannot be withdrawn solely because of fraud; the investigation has to show that you are no longer entitled.
In serious cases you may face imprisonment.
If you have received more money than you were entitled to because of a genuine error you cannot be guilty of fraud.
If you have problems, seek legal advice.
Sex Offenders Register
The Sex Offenders Act 1997, now replaced by the SOA 2003, created what has become known as the Sex Offenders Register. Anyone convicted of any of a number of sexual offences has to register with their local police for a specified number of years. Failure to comply can result in being imprisoned for up to six months.
The actual offences vary in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but are broadly similar.
In England & Wales and Northern Ireland, accepting a police caution - a formal admission of guilt - for these offences also carries with it the need to register. Get legal advice before accepting cautions.
People who have committed sexual crimes abroad (when the act was a crime both in the country concerned and in the UK) or who were found unfit to stand trial or found not guilty through insanity are also liable to be put on the register.
Sentence 30+ months imprisonment 7 - 29 months 0 - 6 months Caution Conditional discharge Other eg fine, or community service * Halved if U18 at the the time of offence
(At one point, this table wrongly indicated that the registration period for someone who has been cautioned is five years - the figure of two years above is correct.)
People on the register must notify the police within three days of any move or seven days in advance of any foreign travel for three or more days.
New Sexual Offences Prevention Orders replace the earlier Sex Offender Orders. They may be made by a court on conviction etc. for a violent or sexual offence, or following an application by the police in respect of a person with such a conviction etc. living in the community. An order lasts for at least five years and may prohibit the offender from doing anything specified in it thought necessary to protect the public or any particular members of the public from serious sexual harm.
Get legal advice before accepting cautions.
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