The research, commissioned and published by the Home Office examines the variety of different sex work services and the reasons people become involved.

Between May 2018 and June 2019, researchers from the university heard from over 500 individuals currently or formerly involved in prostitution or sex work, sought insights from over 90 organisations, and reviewed over 1,400 relevant publications produced since 2000.

Their findings show a complex picture, with individuals from a variety of walks of life taking part in a range of services, from street work to webcamming, for a wide number of reasons.

The report highlights how the expansion of the internet has changed the sex industry, opening up new ways to advertise and find clients, provide services, manage transactions, and so on. There is a wide variety of types of sex work, ranging from traditional concepts such as brothels and street prostitution, to more modern activities such as webcamming and sugar daddy arrangements.

Professor Marianne Hester OBE, one of the report’s authors, said: “In the most comprehensive overview of prostitution and sex work to date, we show how individual and social drivers for involvement, a wide range of settings and activities, and individual needs to negotiate harm and safety, have resulted in a highly mobile landscape for contemporary prostitution and sex work.”