In 2025, a super-complaint was submitted by Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre (CRCC), Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ), Rape Crisis England & Wales (RCEW) and Bindmans LLP, regarding soaring police delays, which have left over 37,000 survivors of sexual offences waiting for more than three years for their cases to be investigated, over the last decade.
We’re pleased to share that the super-complaint has now been accepted by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) and is now being investigated.
The super-complaints system is designed to identify and address systemic issues in policing and allows organisations to raise issues on behalf of the public about patterns or practices in policing that they believe are causing significant harm.
Substantial delays and backlogs now affect every stage of the criminal justice system, raising serious concerns about its fairness, efficacy and long-term sustainability. Long waits for police investigations to be completed - followed by more years of waiting in the Crown Court backlog if the case is charged - mean that reporting rape and other sexual offences means entering into a system which can take years to progress through
Maxime Rowson, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Rape Crisis England & Wales (RCEW), said:
“We welcome the news that this super-complaint has been assessed as eligible for investigation, and eagerly await the findings. For far too long, survivors of sexual violence and abuse have been asked to engage with a process that no longer resembles a functioning criminal justice system. We hear from survivors who have no choice but to withdraw from the process completely because of the devastating impact is has on their mental health. We know that the journey to reform is long, but we are determined to ensure that survivors who choose to engage with the criminal justice system can do so without enduring further harm."