The government has announced a new national legal advisor service for rape victims, backed by £6m of funding. Here is what is changing and what it means in practice.
On 10 March 2025, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy announced that rape victims in England and Wales will be given access to specialist legal advisors at every stage of the criminal justice process, from the initial police investigation through to trial.
The new national Independent Legal Advisor (ILA) service will provide rape victims with legal advice for rape victims throughout investigations and prosecutions, backed by £6m of initial funding over two years, and is set to launch later this year. Lammy said the plans were part of “rebalancing the system to put victims first”, adding: “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 government also announced it will expand the principles of Operation Soteria into courtrooms. Launched in 2021, Operation Soteria shifted the focus of rape investigations away from scrutinising the victim’s behaviour and towards examining the suspect’s conduct and patterns. It was rolled out across all 43 police forces in England and Wales in 2023. The government now wants that same approach to apply once cases reach trial.
What this means in practice
Under the current system, rape victims have no independent legal representation during the criminal justice process. They are treated as witnesses to a prosecution, not parties to a case. That means when police or lawyers request access to personal records, including therapy notes, medical history, or phone data, victims have limited power to challenge those requests without legal support. Many do not know they can push back at all.
The ILA service would assign a specialist advisor to each victim to explain their rights and challenge requests for personal information that are not genuinely necessary to the case. The Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, Claire Waxman, welcomed the announcement but told Radio 4’s Today programme that victims are still routinely subject to complicated and intrusive legal demands well into the process, describing the experience as “so stressful and daunting” and, for some, “brutal.”
Rape Crisis England and Wales, which has campaigned for legal advice for rape victims throughout the justice process, said systemic reforms of this kind are “important and urgent.” Its interim head of policy, Maxime Rowson, said: “Every day we speak to survivors of sexual violence and abuse who experience the criminal justice system as a further site of harm.”
The scale of the problem
The announcement comes against a backdrop of persistently low prosecution rates. Police recorded 71,667 rape offences in England and Wales in 2024/25. Just 2.8% of those cases resulted in a charge. One of the reasons cases collapse before reaching court is victim withdrawal; when the process is retraumatising, survivors disengage and perpetrators are not held to account. Providing legal support throughout is, at least in part, a practical attempt to address that.
Whether £6m over two years is sufficient to build a genuinely national service across tens of thousands of cases remains an open question. The service’s scope and reach will be watched closely by survivors’ organisations when it launches.
If you have been affected by rape or sexual violence, Rape Crisis England and Wales runs a free 24/7 support line on 0808 500 2222. You can find your nearest centre at rapecrisis.org.uk.
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