Specialist courts for rape cases to be rolled out in England and Wales

Specialist courts to handle cases of rape and other sexual offences will be introduced across England and Wales over the next two years, the prime minister has announced.

Each crown court will have at least one courtroom set up to hear such cases, while alleged victims will be able to view proceedings remotely and give evidence from a separate room via video link.

They will also be provided with private entrances and waiting rooms to separate them from defendants, though this will be dependent on the architecture of each building.

Rape Crisis England and Wales said this was a "significant step forward" that would introduce several reforms it had 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, said.

Charities have complained that low prosecution rates for sexual offences and delays to court proceedings had disuaded victims from coming forward or pursuing justice.

Just 2.8% of rape offences recorded by police led to prosecutions in the year ending March 2024 and were the crimes that took the longest to investigate.

A prior ONS study, using data from 2017-2020, suggested that 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.