Streetlight UK
StreetlightUK
Streetlight is an award-winning specialist support service for women involved in prostitution and all forms of sexual violence and exploitation, including those trafficked into prostitution. One of only 34 charities nationally in 2021 to receive a special award from the Queen for their frontline response during the COVID-19 pandemic. Providing tangible and material pathways for women to exit prostitution, StreetlightUK has developed a specialism and an understanding of women across London, Surrey, Sussex, Medway and Kent since 2012.
According to the Home Office 'Paying the Price: A Coordinated Prostitution Strategy' London: Home Office, 2004, 70% of sex workers have been in care. StreetlightUK engaged with over 11,000 women involved in prostitution in 2023-24 and directly supported over 750 in 1-2-1 sessions. 9 out of 10 women tell StreetlightUK they want to exit the sex industry but don’t feel equipped to do so. StreetlightUK conducts monthly research into the scale and nature of prostitution in large parts of the UK and is keen to develop a robust, evidence-based research programme to explore this shocking statistic linked to women’s involvement in prostitution and the care system as children.
This research scheme at Warwick University would form the initial pilot for scoping and identifying the core framework of issues and drivers relating to these statistics.