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Rape victims will be given access to specialist legal advice throughout the criminal justice process, the government has announced.
The reforms will also expand the principles of Operation Soteria into courtrooms, aiming to ensure the trial focuses on the suspect’s behaviour rather than scrutinising victims.
Announcing the scheme on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said the plans were part of “rebalancing the system to put victims first”.
The new national Independent Legal Advisor (ILA) service will help victims understand their rights and challenge unnecessary requests for personal information.
Lammy added: “For too long victims of rape have faced not only the trauma of the crime but the trauma of a justice process that can feel like it is judging them instead of pursuing the perpetrator.”
The new scheme is backed by £6m of initial funding over two years and will provide victims with specialist legal advice throughout investigations and prosecutions.
It is set to be launched later this year.
Speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme, the Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, Claire Waxman said although there were some positive changes as a result of Operation Soteria being rolled out across policing and prosecution, victims still need further support.
Operation Soteria was launched as a pilot scheme in 2021 to improve the handling of rape investigations by police. It was later expanded across all police forces in England and Wales in 2023.
One of its key aims was to prioritise evidence about the suspect’s behaviour and patterns and ensure victims only receive requests for personal information when it has substantial value to the case.
Waxman said some victims were still having to navigate complicated legal requests and received requests for information including their mobile phones, therapy notes and medical records.
She added that many victims have found their experience through the criminal justice system “so stressful and daunting”, with some describing parts of the process as “brutal”.
Rape Crisis England & Wales (RCEW), which has been campaigning for such changes, also welcomed the announcement and said “systemic changes such as those announced today are important and urgent”.
The group said the impact of the criminal justice system on victims can be “devastating” and that many often experience “over-zealous and intrusive questioning”.
“Every day we speak to survivors of sexual violence and abuse who experience the criminal justice system as a further site of harm,” Maxime Rowson, RCEW’s Interim Head of Policy and Public Affairs, said.
The group said most victims “will never engage with the criminal justice system” but that if they do, “it is crucial that survivors have the option to pursue a criminal justice outcome without retraumatisation”.
