Recommendation 2

Victims of rape and serious sexual offences are facing unacceptable delays to justice that compound and extend their suffering and lead to too many cases collapsing. The number of such cases waiting longer than a year has increased by more than 400% since the onset of the pandemic. As victims are made to wait longer for their cases to be heard, their lives are put on hold and their trauma is prolonged. As waiting times increase, so does the risk the victim withdraws from the process and the case collapses. While the proportion of cases collapsing in the courts in this way has reduced recently, the scale of victim attrition in other stages of the criminal justice process is unacceptably high. We are encouraged that the Department is putting more money into victim support services, doubling investment from £92 million in 2019–20 to £185 million by 2024–25. It also has plans to increase the number of independent sexual violence advisors (ISVAs), whose support to victims halves the likelihood of a victim withdrawing from the process. In June 2021, the Department set out a range of other actions it would take in its end-to-end rape review, and published a progress update in December 2021, but cannot yet say what impact these actions are having on the number of rape and serious sexual offence cases waiting in the backlog. Recommendation: In its Treasury Minute response, the Department should set out its plan to assess the impact of its measures to support victims of rape and serious sexual offences and its progress on recruiting ISVAs.