This article is currently being updated and some advice might be out of date. Contact advice@luu.leeds.ac.uk if you have any questions.
I’m a sex worker, what support is available to me?
LUU can tailor the support to what you need, providing a confidential and non-judgemental space for you to have a chat.
We can help with any academic concerns you have, including help to submit mitigating circumstances. We can also help identify what financial support may be available to you if you are in hardship, as well as accessing health and wellbeing services.
If you have been the victim of assault, regardless of whether this was whilst you were working or not, we can talk through your options of accessing support and making a report - if you wished to do so. You would remain in control at all times and the decisions on what action you wanted to take would be yours.
You can also access support outside of the University:
- Basis Yorkshire offer one-to-one support; home visits; sexual health services; housing advice; and safety information to sex workers in Leeds.
- Joanna Project is a Christian faith project who provide a drop-in service, peer support, and evening outreach to outdoor street sex workers.
- National Ugly Mugs (NUM) provides access to justice and protection for sex workers. They can help you to report to the police and issue warnings about dangerous individuals.
- SWARM is a sex worker led collective aiming to improve working conditions and resist violence. They run meet-ups for sex workers in Leeds and Manchester.
- Yorkshire MESMAC offer sexual health testing, counselling and support to sex workers (as well as men who have sex with men; BAME people; LGBT+ young people; and trans communities).
- Forward Leeds provide support to sex workers with alcohol and drug issues.
Police safety tips for sex workers can be found here and West Yorkshire Police’s policy on sex work can be read here.