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PM announces specialist courts for rape cases in England and Wales

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Brighton, UK
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Alleged victims will be granted new measures including private entrances and waiting rooms, along with specialist ‘trauma-enforced training’ for court staff. 

Andy Burnham has announced the rollout of new specialist rape courts in England and Wales, building on measures that are currently only available in limited locations.

At least one courtroom in every Crown Court will be dedicated to handling rape and cases involving serious sexual offences over the next two years, according to the government.

Alleged victims are currently entitled to request private entrances and waiting rooms to ensure they are separated from defendants, but their availability currently depends on individual courts. Along with private access, court staff will receive specialist ‘trauma-enforced training’ and a single point of contact will be allocated to each survivor.

Rape Crisis England and Wales said this was a ‘significant step forward’ that would introduce several reforms the organisation has been requesting for years.

‘Taken together, they reflect the urgency of ensuring that courts are fit for purpose and properly meet the needs of victims and survivors, which is crucial to securing justice,’ the charity’s chief executive, Ciara Bergman, told the BBC.

As it stands, just 2.8% of rape offences recorded by police led to prosecutions in the year ending March 2024. Violent sexual assault cases were also the crimes that took the longest to investigate.

It echoes a stubborn taboo around rape and sexual violence, one that silences victims and prevents them from coming forward.

A study by the Office for National Statistics previously found that between 2017-2020, only a sixth of the actual number of rape and attempted rape victims had reported their assault to the police, with more than a third saying this was because they felt the police could not help or that the process would be humiliating.

Besides the threat of danger or potential of not being believed, victims face often complex and long-winded legal paths forward. That makes the introduction of specialist courts a major turning point.

Victims minister Alex Davies-Jones said the new measures were part of efforts to reduce a backlog of Crown Court cases, which stood at more than 80,000 at the end of March this year. Sexual offences accounted for a staggering 19% of those cases.

There are 84 crown court buildings across England and Wales, containing 500 courtrooms between them. The government has committed to implementing the new specialist measures in every court building by 2028.

Of course, there’s a distinction between making the court process more accommodating and making it more accessible in the first place. Specialist courtrooms cannot address every reason why victims choose not to report rape, nor can they guarantee that cases will result in a prosecution.

What they can do is remove some of the practical and emotional obstacles that survivors may encounter once a case reaches court.

The changes will also attempt to tackle one of the most persistent problems facing rape cases today. From October, rape and serious sexual offence trials will be given fixed dates rather than being placed on so-called floating lists, which can leave victims uncertain about when they will actually have to give evidence.

The government says the reforms are intended to make the experience of going to court less intimidating, while also helping cases move through the system more quickly.

The Law Commission has welcomed the announcement, noting that its own 2025 recommendations included a specialist sexual offences court supported by specialist listing practices, trained personnel and appropriate technology for giving evidence.

The new courts will not, by themselves, resolve the wider crisis around rape prosecutions. But for those who do enter the criminal justice system, the government is betting that a court designed with their experience in mind can make the process feel less like another obstacle to overcome.

For survivors who have already waited months or years to be heard, that makes for momentous change.

Enjoyed this? Click here for more Gen Z focused change stories.

Senior Remote Writer Brighton, UK

I’m Flo, (She/Her) a Senior Remote Writer at Thred. I recently completed a Masters in Visual Anthropology, and seek to interrogate the ways digital spaces can amplify marginalised voices in the arts and cultural sectors. Follow me on LinkedIn or ping me some feedback via email.

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