Soaring police delays 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, according to survivor organisations launching a rare type of action against policing today. More than half of these investigations have taken longer than four years; and many have extended substantially further.
The super-complaint, submitted by Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre (CRCC), Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ), Rape Crisis England & Wales (RCEW) and Bindmans LLP, comes at a time of unprecedented delays and challenges across the criminal justice system, particularly in sexual offences cases. They argue the situation of very lengthy investigations into sexual offences has become inhumane and untenable for many survivors. It is also leaving police forces legally liable for their failure to properly progress cases, as the excessive delays in investigations may, in many cases, breach the UK’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
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.
Research by the organisations reveal that sexual offence cases taking more than three years to investigate have increased sixfold over the last ten years (652% increase) and almost 14,000 investigations over three years in length were still ongoing at the end of March 2025. More than two-thirds of survivors in delayed cases surveyed by the charities said they were not sure if they would report to the police for help again. Although not a representative sample, these findings are consistent with previous national research from the Bluestone Operation Soteria report.
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 has become an increasingly difficult and re-traumatising process for so many.
The super-complaint raises substantial concern around how police forces monitor timeliness. It also demonstrates that official government figures on lengths of sexual offence investigations are misleading, rendering very long cases invisible in the publicly available crime data. The organisations point to a number of issues within policing that contribute to the excessive delays and call for an immediate audit by all forces to establish how many survivors’ cases remain effectively stuck in the system.
Ellie Ball, ISVA Manager at Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre (CRCC), said:
“This complaint highlights important realities about the state of the criminal justice system and shines a light on the experiences of far too many survivors facing unimaginable delays not properly captured or represented in official figures. These survivors report to the police in good faith, only to have their cases repeatedly de-prioritised and pushed to the back of an informal waiting list for justice. Not only does this prevent survivors from being able to move forward with their lives, it also leaves many with a deep sense of mistrust and disillusionment, that their traumatic experiences can be treated with such seeming indifference and apathy.
“Many suspects of very serious sexual offences are also going effectively unpoliced over extensive periods, despite coming to the attention of authorities. Survivors come forward, often at great personal cost to try and prevent these individuals causing further harm, and there is a clear duty on the Home Office to address the underlying problems in policing that have led to this situation getting progressively worse. The fact that 3, 4 and 5 year-long investigations can appear almost unremarkable now to those working within the system, points to the need for an urgent wake up call, and effective solutions. As well as a wholesale re-evaluation of what the public have the right to expect from the services they pay for.”
Nogah Ofer, Head of Legal Advice Team and Policy Advisor at Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ), said:
“The experiences of survivors caught up in these very long-running police investigations are currently obscured from public view due to the way in which timeliness and investigation length are presented in national crime data. We are now painting the true picture for thousands of survivors of sexual offences, and we call upon the policing bodies to take swift action to address the unacceptable situation we are highlighting.”
Maxime Rowson, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Rape Crisis England & Wales (RCEW), said:
“When you add soaring police investigative delays to the delays caused by the Crown Court backlog, the picture is one of thousands of survivors who make the decision to report sexual violence, only to be being asked to engage with a process that no longer resembles a functioning justice system. This super-complaint shows systemic failures by police to conduct timely investigations, affecting thousands of survivors. Prolonged delays risk breaching the state’s duties under the European Convention on Human Rights to investigate serious crimes effectively — and in some cases, prevent justice altogether, as survivors understandably withdraw due to stress and distress, memories fade, and perpetrators pass away before cases reach trial."
India Cooper, Solicitor at Bindmans LLP, said:
“Excessive delays in the investigation of sexual offences have become a widespread feature of policing across the UK and risk breaching survivors’ human rights by denying them prompt and effective access to justice. As this super-complaint highlights, when survivors are left waiting many years for justice, their trauma is prolonged and their safety is undermined. We urge policing bodies to act now - survivors deserve thorough and effective investigations, not silence and delay.”
ENDS
Notes:
The super-complaint can be read here
To read the executive summary, click here
About the super-complaint
The super-complaint is being submitted on Monday 15 December 2025. The next step will be for the three super-complaint bodies to decide if it is eligible and then conduct their own investigation into the issues raised. If the super-complaint is upheld, they will make recommendations to address the problems highlighted.
The police super-complaints system is designed to identify and address systemic issues in policing. It allows organisations designated by the Home Office to raise issues on behalf of the public about patterns or practices in policing they believe are causing significant harm. Centre for Women’s Justice is a designated body.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), the College of Policing and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) (the decision-making authorities) are jointly responsible for responding to police super-complaints. They work together to respond to police super-complaints, to support their joint aim of promoting improvements in policing.
Further information can be found here.Our data in the super-complaint
This super-complaint draws upon data obtained by Freedom of Information requests to the Home Office as well as survey research and focus groups with Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) and survivors across England and Wales to show the true scale of the problem and factors within policing that are contributing to the delays.
1. Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to the Home Office
The super-complaint authors submitted an FOI request for data on sexual offence investigations over the past decade that took more than three years from report to outcome.
We also sent FOI requests to all police forces in England and Wales; 33 responded.
Key findings include:In the past decade, more than 37,000 sexual offence investigations have dragged on for over three years — over half ran beyond four years, with many lasting far longer. We include a detailed example of one case that took over six years for the police to progress.
Police investigations into sexual offences taking more than three years have surged by over 652% in the past decade (533 cases in 2014/15, and 4,008 2024/25). This is more than a sixfold increase, and we have also seen a 15-fold increase for investigations lasting between three to four years (137 cases in 2014/15, and 2,261 cases in 2024/25).
There are underlying issues within policing contributing to excessive delays, such as the routine de-prioritisation of some sexual offence investigations; staffing and resourcing issues, failures of management and supervision, poor joint working with the CPS and changes to the law around bail.
2. Data from ISVA services
We sent a survey to 12 Rape Crisis centres providing Independent Sexual Violence Adviser (ISVA) services in England and Wales. The survey asked about police investigations lasting over three years and held two focus groups with eight experienced ISVAs and managers.
ISVAs are specialist support workers who help survivors navigate the criminal justice process.
While ISVA services do not routinely record investigation times or police outcomes, the information they provided reflects that ISVAs are aware of large numbers of sexual offence investigations lasting several years, and that these delays are acutely detrimental to the individuals they support.
Data was submitted by services across London, Brighton, Essex, Merseyside, Leeds, Gloucestershire, Darlington & County Durham, and Cambridgeshire, covering cases from 21 police forces.
London services in particular reported higher numbers of delayed investigations, but it is not possible to compare ISVA services directly due to differences in staffing and caseloads.3. Results from survivors
We ran an online survey for survivors about sexual offence investigations lasting over three years. We received 75 responses covering 26 police forces across England and Wales.
Key findings:More than two-thirds of survivors in delayed cases surveyed by the charities said they were not sure if they would report to the police for help again.
Significant delays in police investigations cause significant harm to those reporting, sometimes more than the impact of the original offence.