Oh dear goshAnne That's depressing isn't it 
bale You said that HSE and Employment law could be brought into prostitution easily (without forcing sex workers to become self-employed, thus exempt) if it was regulated.
I cannot disagree more! If prostitution was legalised and regulated sex workers would be entitled to protection from the HSE and from the Equality Act.
Do you understand risk assessments or hazard awareness involved in HSE? Or equal opportunities? Prostitution, as it is, is not compatible with these at all!
I used to be a microbiologist working with TB cultures...even when the cultures were dead, to handle them I had to be trained in infection control, wearing PPE (head covering, goggles, gloves, shoe-coverings i.e. a helluva lot more than a condom) and follow a strict protocol (i.e. have 2 people working together, signing off on procedures etc.).
A prostitute would be handling potentially lethal, infectious material: hepatitis, HIV, chlamydia etc. In line with HSE she would need to wear goggles, gloves and a disposable covering at least...No union or insurance company would sanction skin to skin (without an intense cleansing routine like HCPs) and certainly not penetration, due to the high risk of infection.
That is before we get started on possible pain (no job under HSE requires an employee to experience pain) and if you've ever had a cock up your arse, even voluntarily, let me tell you, there's at minimum a certain ouchy-twinge.
Or before we cover psychological issues likely to arise from employment. Workplaces dealing with intense workloads and issues often have their own counsellors/occupational therapists (workplaces for example; MH teams, entertainment industry peeps, emergency services etc.). Any professional is able to sign any workers off on MH/stress grounds...In my opinion I reckon many prostitutes would qualify for this after their first client!
As for the Equality Act: brothels would be required to demonstrate that they are actively recruiting and employing people of every gender, religion, race, age and sexual orientation.
Obviously, this could not work.
So to support prostitution as a service industry (boak) that works the government would have to revoke certain employment rights and protection from prostitutes...so regulation is void for actual sex workers.
And as for you saying that punters could join a register etc....get fucking real! As if many men would sign up for that; the ones that would would be 'encouraged' by your legislation to think buying women was legit and fun...the majority would just seek out discreet street experiences safe in the knowledge that they could just claim they thought it was legal.
Criminalise all buyers...fine them and publicise their names, pump loadsa resources into it (big returns...punters have money and are scared to face consequences).
Interested to hear Bale and wino 's thoughts.