POW Nottingham – Empowering Nottingham since 1990

Empowering Nottingham Since 1990

POW Nottingham Ltd is a non-profit, voluntary organisation supporting the rights of sex workers and those at risk of being exploited. POW recognises and supports the rights of individual sex workers to self-determination. This includes the right to remain in or leave sex work. POW aims to empower our diverse community, focusing on ending violence and stigma through education, advocacy and peer support.

POW runs a variety of services and projects from our building based in Radford, Nottingham. We support anybody in the adult entertainment industry on any platform. Our services include specialist support for online and off-street workers, students and under 25’s, LGBTQ+ workers and migrant workers. We provide safety advice, emotional support, harm minimisation supplies, sexual health screening and other support services to meet the needs of anybody who approaches POW.

POW is a proud member and supporter of the National Ugly Mugs (NUM) scheme and can support workers with reporting any incidents, getting updates to keep them safe and guide them through the process of signing up to receive alerts around dangerous individuals. Harm minimisation and safety is at the forefront of POW’s agenda while empowering anybody working in the industry based on their individual circumstance and wishes.

POW's Impact

In 2020 an anonymised case study was completed with someone who accessed POW services for a number of years. This person had the following feedback to give about POW’s impact on their life and gave permission for us to publish this on their behalf:

POW supported person Z for over 2 years. In this time this person was able to access healthy relationship counselling, attend community college courses and maintain abstinence from substance misuse. Because of working with POW they said they felt more confident in themselves, more included in the community and had a focus for their future.

Throughout 2020 (and all the lockdowns!) POW supported 338 people through our services and projects.

Feedback from people who use POW services included:

"I feel like I’m moving forward. You made me a CV and I have an interview for a job this week!"

""(There are) loads of homeless services and drug and alcohol but POW is unique. For example, other services offer getting into college and stuff but you understand my fears about it and I don’t think other people do."

We work closely with a number of partner agencies in the statutory, private and third sector to help overcome barriers and support people who access POW. Some of the feedback from our last evaluation from our partners included:

“POW clients I have seen are very complex and have emotional support needs, POW provides this for them and is very person-centred in its approach. Without POW I don’t think service users would have access to counselling they want and need. This has undoubtedly improved their mental health.”

"Women have been safer and supported through lockdown because POW kept on working and kept in touch with people. Many people would not be in treatment without POW.”

If you would like to buy our book, “Hello, I’m here” please follow this link or contact us at our offices. If you would like to donate to help the running of our project and services offered please click here:

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Postcode Places Trust is a grant-giving charity funded entirely by players of People’s Postcode Lottery. Our organisation received £17,611 from the Trust to support our crisis work with 70 women.