England & Wales to roll out specialist sex offences courts

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced today that every Crown Court in England and Wales will have a specialist courtroom for cases of rape and serious sexual offences.

He says the courts will prioritise rape cases, thereby addressing the uncertainties and delays experienced by survivors. The courtrooms will feature private waiting rooms and facilities for the pre-recording of evidence. Staff at the courtrooms will be provided with specialist training.

Where many such cases are now placed on “floating lists”, meaning the date of trial can be moved at short notice, trials in these courtrooms will have fixed dates. The government says that rape cases last year took an average of 424 days between entry into the Crown Court and completion, leading to the withdrawal of allegations.

The reforms will be rolled out over the next two years. The announcement builds on Burnham’s commitment earlier this month that by the close of 2027, all police forces across England and Wales will have dedicated rape and sexual offence investigation teams.

In an Instagram post today, Charlotte Nichols MP sats the announcement is a £23 million package which also includes the establishment of a best-practice approach across sexual offence trials, a dedicated single point of contact for victims at the courts, and a new task force chaired by the Lord Chancellor to tackle delays to rape cases in the criminal justice system.

Nichols – who is the MP for Warrington North - lobbied for the changes, which were promised in the Labour manifesto. She waived her right to anonymity earlier this year, disclosing that she had endured a rape trial which only ended up in court after more than 1,000 days. The accused perpetrator was acquitted by a jury.

Nichols told her story to the House of Commons, opposing proposals to limit some jury trials. She said rape victims were being used as a “cudgel” to drive through the changes and that stories like hers were weaponised. She argued that reforms such as the specialist courtrooms were more likely to improve the criminal justice system for survivors of sexual offences.