“Investigation Ongoing”

In 2025, a super-complaint was submitted (see below) by Cambridge Rape Crisis Centre (CRCC), Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ), Rape Crisis England & Wales (RCEW) and Bindmans LLP, regarding soaring police delays, which 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.

We’re pleased to share that the super-complaint has now been accepted by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) and is now being investigated.

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.

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 means entering into a system which can take years to progress through

Maxime Rowson, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Rape Crisis England & Wales (RCEW), said:

“We welcome the news that this super-complaint has been assessed as eligible for investigation, and eagerly await the findings. For far too long, survivors of sexual violence and abuse have been asked to engage with a process that no longer resembles a functioning criminal justice system. We hear from survivors who have no choice but to withdraw from the process completely because of the devastating impact is has on their mental health. We know that the journey to reform is long, but we are determined to ensure that survivors who choose to engage with the criminal justice system can do so without enduring further harm.”

Survivors of sexual violence and abuse are being forced to wait far too long for police to investigate their reports.

“The experience of the criminal justice system/police investigation has been so re-traumatising and has ruined my life.” – survivor, investigation ongoing: 5 years and 5 months

At the end of March 2025, at least 13,949 survivors of sexual violence had been waiting longers than 3 years for their cases to be investigated by police.

Over the last decade, a staggering 37,188 sexual offence investigations have taken longer than three years to reach an outcome.

And the problem is only getting worse: over the last decade, the number of sexual offence cases that took longer than three years to conclude rose by a shocking 652%.

We’re taking action to protect survivors – justice delayed is justice denied.

Together with Rape Crisis England and Wales, the Centre for Women’s Justice and Bindmans LLP, we’ve submitted a ‘super-complaint’ regarding these systemic issues in policing, which, if accepted, will means they cannot ignore our call for change.

Ellie Ball, CRCC ISVA Manager, 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.”