A damning new report has exposed the UK government’s near-total work ban on asylum seekers as a driver of widespread exploitation, particularly among vulnerable women.
The research, published by the advocacy group Women for Refugee Women, reveals that 10% of female asylum seekers have been forced into sex work, while 38% report entering abusive relationships as a survival mechanism. Nearly half of respondents said they lacked access to basic sanitary products, relying instead on food banks and donations to meet essential needs.
“This is a crisis of dignity and safety,” said the charity’s executive director Natasha Walter. “Women fleeing violence and persecution abroad are finding themselves trapped in further harm and humiliation right here in the UK.”
The UK currently prohibits asylum seekers from working unless their case has been pending for over 12 months and even then, only in a narrow range of pre-approved professions. Campaigners argue this policy not only deepens poverty but exposes asylum seekers—especially women—to coercion and abuse.
One participant in the study, a 29-year-old woman from Eritrea, said she felt she had “no choice but to accept dangerous offers just to survive.”
The report adds fuel to the growing call for urgent policy reform, with human rights groups and cross-party MPs urging the Home Office to lift the ban and allow asylum seekers to contribute legally to the economy. Critics say the current system fosters dependency, mental health crises, and systemic exploitation.
The Home Office responded by stating that work restrictions are in place to maintain the integrity of the immigration system, but added that it would review the findings of the report.
The revelations come at a time of mounting pressure on the UK government’s asylum and immigration policies, following legal challenges to the Rwanda deportation scheme and renewed scrutiny from the United Nations Human Rights Council.
As public outrage builds, the question now is whether the UK will continue to defend a policy many see as not only inhumane—but economically and socially unsustainable.
