RCEW, Centre for Women's Justice and Victim Support to deliver the first national Independent Legal Advice Service for survivors of sexual violence and abuse.
We are delighted to announce that Rape Crisis England & Wales (RCEW) will be working in partnership with Centre for Women's Justice and Victim Support to deliver the first ever national Independent Legal Advice (ILA) service for adult survivors of sexual violence and abuse.
About the ILA service
The service, funded by the Ministry of Justice, will provide specialist, independent legal advice to survivors about their rights within the criminal justice process. Legal advisors will support on issues such as excessive personal data requests, Victim’s Right to Review and police investigations that fall below expected standards.
The service will be modelled on the existing ILA model currently delivered in London by WGN with CWJ, who are the lead project partner. RCEW and Victim Support will work with CWJ as partners to support the mobilisation and delivery of the new national scheme.
Who the service is for
The scheme is designed to support those who decide to report to the police, to understand their options, make informed decisions, and access clear, wholly independent legal advice at key stages of the criminal justice process.
The first national service of its kind will be available to survivors across England and Wales who are aged 18+ and have reported the offence of rape or assault by penetration (sections 1 and 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003) to the police.
How the ILA service will help survivors
Defendants in rape cases are entitled to legal advice from the date they are arrested, right though to representation at trial. In contrast, survivors of rape are not entitled to the same legal support – ostensibly because they are regarded as ‘witnesses’ in a case which has been brought by the prosecution.
As such, until this scheme begins, most have had no way of obtaining legal advice or representation, making it difficult for them to challenge investigations and prosecution decisions when they need to do so. This causes and compounds trauma, and contributes to many survivors withdrawing from the process before trial.
Although the Independent Legal Advice service cannot represent survivors at court, it is intended to help address some of the problems that survivors experience through the criminal justice process.
A step in the right direction
After years of campaigning by RCEW and the wider sexual violence and abuse sector, the promise of a national Independent Legal Advice service was included in the 2024 Labour Party manifesto and forms part of the Government’s Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy.
We are delighted to have been successful in our joint application alongside Centre for Women's Justice and Victim Support, to deliver this important service. Most importantly, we're delighted to be part of survivors having access, for the first time, to specialist, independent legal advice of this kind.
This is an important step forward in improving access to justice and support for survivors who are too often dissuaded from engaging with the criminal justice system, and retraumatised when they do.
Notes
- The service is funded by the Ministry of Justice by way of a grant to the Centre for Women’s Justice between 1 October 2026 and 31 March 2028.
- The service is expected to launch in early 2027. Further information about referral routes, eligibility and launch timings will be shared in due course.