A growing number of NHS and social care staff are quitting their jobs and becoming OnlyFans stars because of the cost of living crisis, charities claim.
They are swapping tireless and poorly-paid roles in frontline health and care for the adult site — here some make up to £50,000 a month.
Unions have warned staff are leaving in droves for ‘better paid, less stressful jobs’, with record inflation making this year’s 4 per cent pay rise a ‘massive pay cut’.
Campaigners said the high number of women in the sectors meant it ‘isn’t surprising‘ they are being lured into online adult work.
Belle Grace, 26, from Yorkshire, left her job as a carer for children and adults with autism last year, where she was paid roughly £1,600 a month.
She has now become an OnlyFans sensation and makes between £7,000 and £51,000 monthly.
Former healthcare assistant James Cowe, 23, from Bournemouth, also made the switch last year after being ‘insulted’ by the Government’s proposed pay rise.
And Hollie Munroe, 25, from Hertfordshire, has been able to move to Marbella on the back of funds she got from quitting her job as a carer for an OnlyFans career.
Increasing numbers of nurses and carers are turning their back on the field to service another kind of need on adult content site OnlyFans. Belle Grace (pictured), from Yorkshire, previously cared for disabled people but now earns around £51,000 a month on OnlyFans
James Cowe, 23, from Bournemouth, started his OnlyFans account last year after being ‘insulted’ by the Government’s proposed pay risefor NHS staff
Hollie Munroe, 25, from Hertfordshire, quit her job caring for the elderly to jet off to Marbella in Spain, where she lives off her cash earned on the site
OnlyFans is a social media platform used primarily by adult content creators, who sell personalised pictures and videos to followers who pay a monthly subscription.
Adult worker support charity Beyond The Street said it is ‘deeply concerned’ by the rise in care workers turning to the website.
A spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘Financial vulnerability can be a driver into the sale of sex and online sexual content.
OnlyFans’ top 10 highest earners: How celebrities like Bella Thorne and Blac Chyna rake in MILLIONS a month on the site
OnlyFans has become a hugely lucrative endeavor for many of its users — particularly celebrities like Blac Chyna, Bella Thorne, and Mia Khalifa who are among its highest-earning creators.
According to Influencer Marketing Hub, these A-listers rake in millions of dollars a month, with Blac Chyna topping the list of the site’s biggest earners with an estimated monthly income of $20 million.
Here, MailOnline reveals the site’s top 10 earners — and their estimated monthly incomes:
1. Blac Chyna: £16.5million ($20million)
2. Bella Thorne: £9.1million ($11million)
3. Cardi B: £7.7million ($9.34million)
4. Tyga: £6.4million ($7.69million)
5. Mia Khalifa: £5.3million ($6.43million)
6. Erica Mena: £3.7million ($4.49million)
7. Pia Mia: £1.8million ($2.22million)
8. Safaree Samuels: £1.6million ($1.91million)
9. Megan Barton Hanson: £877,000 ($1.06million)
10. Jem Wolfie: £745,000 ($900,000)
‘We are a charity who works alongside many women who have been exploited whilst in vulnerable situations and are deeply concerned by any increase of involvement due to the impact of the cost of living crisis.’
The charity is supporting at least one former healthcare worker who has made a similar change.
The English Collective of Prostitutes, a campaign group which supports women in adult work, told MailOnline: ‘Women, especially mums, have been the hardest hit by the cost of living crisis.
‘As nearly 80 per cent of NHS staff are women, and wages are now lower than they were in 2010, it isn’t surprising that growing numbers of NHS staff are turning to sex work to supplement wages that don’t cover the cost of living.’
Ms Grace said while she misses her old work, she prefers the new lifestyle OnlyFans has afforded her.
She started her account in May 2020 while still working as a team leader in a care institution for children and adults with autism.
Her bosses found out and confronted her with pictures she had shared on the platform and she quit in January 2021 because she was already earning £7,000 per month from the side gig.
Now, on a good month, she can earn her entire old yearly salary in a fortnight.
But it isn’t easy work, she said, as she still puts in 16 hours a day, seven days a week, to grow her account.
Mr Cowe earned more in his first three days after joining OnlyFans than he was getting in a month as a healthcare assistant.
He would work three 12-hour shifts a week in a dementia care home and ‘was always exhausted’.
After the Government announced a 1 per cent proposed pay rise for NHS workers last year, he said felt he ‘had no choice but to look for another industry to go into’.
He said switching to OnlyFans was ‘by far one of the best decisions’ he has ever made.
The Government has since increased the NHS pay rise to at least £1,400 for nurses, paramedics and midwives. They received a 3 per cent pay rise last year.
Care workers in the private sector do not receive the same rises, with many staff still paid minimum wage.
Doctors and nurses have threatened to strike over their salary hikes, which unions argue amounts to a ‘pay cut’ given soaring inflation.
Ms Munroe was previously earning around £8 an hour in her job as a carer for the elderly.
But she made £3,000 in her first week on the subscription site in 2019 and never looked back.
After five years of being a carer — in which she would work up to 60 hours in a week — she decided to give it up for the better pay.
Ms Munroe moved to Marbella after a fortnight on OnlyFans for what was supposed to be a holiday, but never came back.
As well as OnlyFans, carers and NHS staff have been leaving in large numbers for jobs at Amazon, Lidl and restaurants, which often pay better.
Meanwhile, Unite — which represents 1.4million workers in the UK and Ireland — has started to ballot its 100,000 health service members.
The Royal College of Nursing also started asking its 465,000 members if they want to strike over the pay rise.
Dr Denise Chaffer, president of the Royal College of Nurses, said nurses are relying on food banks and staff retention is now a ‘critical issue’.
Hospitals are already short of 50,000 staff across England, according to a Government report last month.
A spokesperson for Unison, the largest trade union in Britain, told MailOnline: ‘Many health and care staff have had enough of barely-there pay rises, exhaustion and stress.
‘The cost-of-living crisis is the final straw. They know they can find work in other sectors that pay far better and don’t have the same pressure.
‘The government must pay better wages to retain and recruit workers.’
Meet the Brits who’ve traded in NHS and social care work to earn thousands taking their clothes off for strangers online
Belle Grace, from Yorkshire
Belle Grace, from Yorkshire, was a team leader in a care institution for children and adults with autism but now earns up to £51,000 a month on OnlyFans.
She started her account in May 2020 while still working there and her bosses found out later that year.
They called her into a meeting and spread pictures she had shared on the site across the table, she claims.
She broke down in tears and asked her boss if she would be sacked, who said the private care home would have to take legal advice.
After taking a week off work, she returned on weekend shifts to minimise how many other staff members she would have to interact with.
She told the Daily Star: ‘I was so upset. I never wanted work to find out. I always wanted to keep it separate because it’s my private life, not because I’m ashamed.
‘If I was going to quit work, I would have told them why I was leaving and that I do OnlyFans.
‘I didn’t mind that part but it was seeing my naked images from my OnlyFans. Nobody at work knew other than me and my boss.’
Belle Grace once got paid nearly £300 by a follower for a video of herself just washing her hair
Ms Grace started her account in January 2021 and was earning £10,000 a month by November, she claims. She once got paid nearly £300 by a follower for a video of herself just washing her hair
Belle Grace, from Yorkshire, was a team leader in a care institution for children and adults with autism
She quit in January 2021 because she was already earning £7,000 per month from the side gig, she claims.
Ms Grace once got paid nearly £300 by a follower for a video of herself just washing her hair.
She told YorkshireLive: ‘I get requests for tickle videos, hair washing or hair plaiting videos as my hair is really long.
‘Once a guy paid £295 just for me to wash and brush my hair whilst in the shower and watch the water drip from the bottom.’
Her family and friends were ‘very supportive’ when she made the move to adult content, she said.
But she has also received death threats from commenters on TikTok, which she uses to advertise her less explicit content.
She now works 16 hours a day, seven days a week to grow her account, which has more than 1million followers.
While she misses her old work, she says she prefers the new lifestyle OnlyFans has afforded her.
And it is not just female carers who are making the switch to OnlyFans.
A former healthcare assistant for dementia patients left his job because of the Government’s pay increase for workers in the sector.
James Cowe, 23, from Bournemouth, started his OnlyFans account in March last year when No10 announced a 1 per cent proposed pay increase for workers.
He said he felt ‘insulted’ by the proposal and felt he ‘had no choice but to look for another industry to go into’.
Mr Cowe told Twisted Male Mag: ‘The low pay, huge work load, shortage of staff & general workplace morale were all starting to take a toll on my mental health around the start of the pandemic.’
He would work three 12-hour shifts a week and ‘was always exhausted’ after work, which had become financially unviable by his final year.
A week after Boris Johnson proposed the 1 per cent pay rise for NHS workers, Mr Cowe decided to quit.
James Cowe, a 23-year-old former healthcare assistant from Bournemouth, started his account last year when No10 announced a 1 per cent proposed pay increase for workers
After huge blowback from the profession, nurses received a £1,400 pay rise — around 4 per cent for most — in June, although unions have argued this amounts to a ‘real-terms pay cut’ because of sky-high inflation rates of around 11 per cent.
Mr Cowe went on to earn more in his first three days than he was getting in a month after joining OnlyFans.
He left his job after six years and has already amassed more than 7,000 OnlyFans followers, charging £9.88 ($11.99) a month for subscriptions.
He told Pink News: ‘With the pressure from the coronavirus pandemic causing all healthcare industries huge amounts of strain, I felt unappreciated and actually insulted.
‘I worked a total of six years in the healthcare industry and I found the workload to be increasingly demanding and exhausting for very little pay at the end of the month.
‘Starting OnlyFans is by far one of the best decisions I have made in my career to date. I made over a year’s salary in 22 days by OnlyFans.’
Hollie Munroe, from Hertfordshire
For some carers, switching to OnlyFans hasn’t just allowed for a better life in Britain.
Hollie Munroe, 25, from Hertfordshire, quit her job caring for the elderly to jet off to Marbella in Spain, where she lives off her cash earned on the site.
After five years of being a carer — in which she would work up to 60 hours in a week — she decided to give it up for some of the easiest money she’s ever made.
She told the Daily Star: ‘I get paid for doing basically nothing. I just sit on my phone for a few hours and that’s about it really.
‘Every day I get up, go to the beach, go shopping and come home. I just got sick of England and thought I could rent in Spain while doing a lot less. I don’t miss England at all.’
After five years of being a carer — in which she would work up to 60 hours in a week — Hollie Munroe decided to give it up to become an OnlyFans creator
Ms Munroe moved to the Spanish city after a fortnight on OnlyFans for what was supposed to be a holiday, but never came back
Hollie Munroe said she has no plans to move back to the UK because she is enjoying the Spanish lifestyle too much
She was previously earning around £8 an hour but made £3,000 in her first week on the subscription site in 2019 and never looked back.
Ms Munroe moved to the Spanish city after a fortnight on OnlyFans for what was supposed to be a holiday, but never came back.
She said: ‘I was going to loads and loads of houses for really s*** money.
‘Of course, there are bits to it that I miss. I enjoyed my job, I liked all of it because it was rewarding. But it was the money for me — I only got paid £8 an hour.’
Her monthly income varies depending on how much she chooses to post on the site.
But she said she has no plans to move back to the UK because she is enjoying the Spanish lifestyle too much.
Anonymous NHS worker, from East Yorkshire
Some NHS workers have set up accounts while still working in the health service, to try and stump up some extra cash.
A middle-aged single mother from East Yorkshire sends pictures and videos to men on the service alongside her day job as a health worker.
The woman, who preferred to stay anonymous, also offers sex advice to couples whose sex lives have turned stale.
She told HullLive: ‘People might think it’s crazy, but this is about empowering myself as a woman and finally doing something for me, that I want to do.
‘This is a real liberation for me, it’s about taking control of my life and my independence and not being reliant on anyone else financially or emotionally.
A middle-aged NHS worker from East Yorkshire has set up an OnlyFans account to supplement her salary
‘With this secret job I can keep a roof over our heads and not be forced to ask anyone else for help or money.’
She said last year’s pay rise left her with no option but to top up her earnings with OnlyFans.
The NHS worker said her salary was nowhere near enough to pay for her house and bills and didn’t want to have to ask anyone for money.
Starting the account was ‘liberating’ for her, she said, allowing her to be more adventurous after coming out of a long-term relationship.
She said she likes being in control of what content she produces and being able to experiment.
And she said she wants to help women using the site to give them sex advice and act as a ‘therapist’.
