All police forces in England and Wales will have specialist rape and sexual offence teams in place by December 2027, a year and a half ahead of the original deadline.

The specialist teams are dedicated to investigating rape and sexual offences, supporting victims and bringing sex offenders to justice.

Initially announced in the government’s landmark Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy last December, the rollout of specialist rape and sexual offence teams was due to be completed by the end of the Parliament in summer 2029.  This will now be accelerated, bringing the deadline forward to December 2027, meaning specialist teams will be operating across the country more than a year earlier than planned.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said:

The scale of violence and abuse suffered by women and girls in this country is unacceptable. We must be laser focused on stamping out these vile crimes.

These measures were going to be introduced in 2029, but I think that’s too slow. So we’re taking action to accelerate the roll out of specialist rape and sexual offence teams, who will go after perpetrators, enforce strict new protection orders to protect survivors, and invest in programmes to intensively manage offenders to break the cycle of abuse.

Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls Satvir Kaur said :

Violence against women and girls is one of the most critical challenges of our time, we must remain ambitious in tackling it and its root causes.

We are going further and faster to ensure victims and survivors of these devastating crimes get the protection and support they deserve.

By ensuring every police force has specialist rape and sexual offence teams sooner, and funding for new protection order teams, we are strengthening our response, relentlessly pursuing perpetrators and helping victims live their life without fear.

This government will continue to use every lever available to drive down violence against women and girls. We will not stop until women and girls can live their lives free from fear, and until this country is safe for everyone.

Director of the National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection, DAC Helen Millichap said:

We welcome today’s announcement and additional funding, which will support our continued efforts to tackle violence against women and girls, improve victim safety and confidence, and strengthen policing’s response across England and Wales.

The NCVPP is already preparing for these changes, with work underway alongside forces to develop specialist rape and sexual offence teams. We are also working with the Home Office to establish up to 10 pilot VAWG protective orders teams and will support forces to embed these teams and identify innovative approaches that improve victim safety, strengthen offender management and enhance operational effectiveness.

These measures aim to prevent harm, reduce risk and improve outcomes for victims, and this programme provides an important opportunity to harness new technology, data and evidence-led practice to raise standards, hold perpetrators to account and deliver more consistent support for victims wherever they live.

As part of today’s package, up to ten police forces across England and Wales will receive a share of a £13.3 million pot for pioneering specialist protection order teams.

Protection orders are imposed on offenders to keep victims safe – with measures including electronic monitoring or tagging, strict exclusion zones and forcing preparators to attend behaviour change programmes. If these rules are broken, they face being sent to prison. They do not depend on a criminal case, and can be issued by courts even if the perpetrator has not been convicted of a criminal offence.

Building on existing orders to protect victims from stalking, sexual harm and forced marriage, the government is also rolling out new domestic abuse protection orders covering all types of domestic abuse – including physical, controlling or coercive behaviour, economic abuse and stalking – with no maximum duration, meaning victims do not need to repeatedly apply for protection.

The funding announced today, which will be met from Home Office budgets, will allow teams to trial new ways to enforce these protection orders, with tighter management of perpetrators to protect victims.

The government is rolling out a programme working directly with perpetrators to stop abusive behaviour and instil long term change, clamping down on issues such as drug misuse and alcohol dependency to break the cycle of abuse.

Over the last ten years, the Drive Project has worked with almost 7,000 high-risk perpetrators, helping to keep close to 7,750 adult victim-survivors and more than 14,000 children safe.

The shocking scale of crimes against women and girls continues to be seen across England and Wales. Recent figures estimate that around 900,000 adults experienced sexual assault last year. Around 3.8 million experienced domestic abuse and 1.4 million experienced stalking.

The government is driving forward a sweeping programme of action to halve violence against women and girls within a decade. Alongside these measures, it is rolling out domestic abuse protection orders, placing domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms, and deploying online operatives to identify offenders and use covert intelligence techniques to tackle abuse online.

Nour Norris OBE, lead campaigner, aunt and sister of Raneem Oudeh and Khaola Saleem, said

The 27 August, marked eight years since my sister Khaola and my niece Raneem were murdered in 2018. Eight years on, I carry not only the pain of losing them, but the responsibility to keep pushing for change.

Raneem’s experience of abuse included sexual violence and harassment, alongside domestic abuse, stalking and coercive behaviour. These are not separate issues. They can overlap, escalate and place women at very serious risk.

That is why these announcements matter so deeply to me. The areas being addressed today reflect many of the very harms Raneem experienced before she was killed. Specialist rape and sexual offence teams, stronger protection orders and greater focus on high-risk perpetrators all have the potential to save lives if they are implemented properly and consistently.

Raneem repeatedly reached out for help. No woman should have to keep proving that she is in danger before action is taken.

I welcome this progress, but the real test will be whether women are believed, protected and supported at the point they ask for help. I will continue working with government through Raneem’s Law and my wider advocacy so that the lessons from Raneem and Khaola’s deaths lead to lasting change and greater protection for others.

source: GOV