CWJ response to the introduction of specialist rape and sexual offences courts in England and Wales

Centre for Women’s Justice welcomes the news today (21 September 2026) that the government will be introducing specialist rape and sexual offences courts across England and Wales.

This includes improving the infrastructure of the existing court estate to make it easier for victims to view proceedings and give their evidence remotely, and benefit from separate entrances and waiting rooms away from defendants wherever possible.

Harriet Dowse-Bland, Solicitor at Centre for Women’s Justice, said:

“We are also pleased to hear that rape trials will no longer be listed as ‘floating’ but will instead have a fixed date, providing victims with greater certainty. This is something we have long seen as an issue.

“However, these measures alone will not be enough to clear the existing backlog of rape cases awaiting trial in the Crown Courts. Many victims are likely to still face significant delays, both at police stage and through the courts, because of stretched resources within the police and the Crown Prosecution Service.”

According to the Ministry of Justice as of March 2026 there were 80,061 open cases in Crown Court of which, 15,573 were sexual offences and 4,455 were adult rape cases.

Harriet Wistrich, CEO of Centre for Women’s Justice, said:

“Chronic underfunding of the justice system as a whole, and Legal Aid in particular, over many years means that there are too few criminal barristers and too few prosecutors, this is often the cause of delays, over and above courtroom availability.

“Victims of rape also still face a range of other issues at court including prevalence of rape myths, over-zealous requests for their personal records, and aggressive cross-examination.”

We are awaiting a number of further changes in the Courts and Tribunals Bill, which will be returning to parliament in October, including making it harder for victims to be unfairly cross-examined about earlier disclosures, and ensuring that previous convictions for domestic abuse can be considered as ‘bad character’ against the accused.