In early 2021, NUM was part of CAST/Catalyst Challenge 9, working alongside other charities and digital experts to develop an online tool to support remote applications to Universal Credit (UC). Applications were being abandoned and NUM was among those concerned that the populations we serve were struggling to access needed resources during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Click here to see the outcome of that collaboration.

For charities like ours, supporting our members’ access to government resources and public services is an ongoing challenge outside of a pandemic. In 2019, we joined with other sex worker support organisations to give written and oral testimony to the public inquiry on Universal Credit and Survival Sex as there were several barriers to applying that drove people in desperate need of income support into sex industries instead. See more details and the NUM response to the inquiry here.

Although we were not able to fully develop and launch a live product during the original 12-week project, we have since made great progress and now have a clear pathway towards a tool that would be useful for sex workers.

Building upon the original prototype developed during the CAST/Catalyst Challenge, our Tech Partner, Web Presence developed a wireframe based on insights from sex workers:

Explore the prototype in Figma and the sky view version. 

Our audiences for this application will include sex workers who want to:
▪ Get support from start to finish on their UC application
▪ Get support for a specific part of their UC application
▪ Get general information about UC
▪ Get specific information to consider when making an application
▪ Get support from the NUM casework team

Sex workers who we spoke with wanted ‘myth buster’ type information to help them make decisions about whether to apply to UC and once in the process of
applying, they wanted guidance from other sex workers who had previously applied.

We plan to work with sex workers to develop multi-media content based on what sex workers wish they had known before applying, what information about them is deemed safe to share with the government,and specific questions around how sex work income is treated by UC, and other topics such as navigating UC when struggling with (mental) health issues.

Complete ‘Phase 1’  as part of our current TNLCF digital transformation project, inclusive of: Core styles and layouts using WordPress; Guide builder; MythBusters CMS incl. video and slideshows; Feedback system; Support & Initial Content Load; and resources for NUM staff and sex workers to curate content.

Fund-raise for ‘Phase 2’ Could be completed over a 3-week period, involving mostly back-end build (Integration with NUM Membership case management system; Caseworker support page; connection to the permissions system to limit this to only some admin members; Member page to use application and for the application to remember progress; and Admin training. The delivery cost would be £8.5K.

Fund-raise for Career Planning & Vocational Support (CPVS) Worker Critically, NUM needs to build capacity within our Case Work Team to facilitate appeals from sex workers seeking to make changes their (sex) work, incomes and careers. This CPVS worker will utilise a range of digital tools (in development and NUM) and support services both within and outside of NUM to support sex workers in exploring occupations and making plans, building financial resiliency, and making the changes the want to see happen in their lives.