Norfolk and Suffolk domestic abuse charity welcomes specialist rape courts but warns long-term support must be funded
Leeway's chief executive says the reforms could make a "significant difference" to survivors
A charity supporting victims of domestic abuse across Suffolk and Norfolk has welcomed plans for specialist rape and serious sexual offence courtrooms across England and Wales – but says long-term investment in support services will also be needed.
The Government has announced that every Crown Court will have at least one courtroom specially set up to hear rape and serious sexual offence cases within the next two years.
The reforms will include private entrances and waiting rooms for victims, facilities allowing evidence to be pre-recorded and sentencing to be observed remotely, and trauma-informed training for court staff. Rape and serious sexual offence trials will also be prioritised and given fixed dates rather than being placed on floating lists, where hearings can be moved at short notice.
Details of the full announcement can be found here.
Jools Ramsey-Palmer, chief executive of Leeway Domestic Violence and Abuse Services, which works across Norfolk and Suffolk, described the announcement as "really welcome".
She said: "It supports the safety and dignity of victims of sexual assault and rape, and it goes some way to reducing the re-traumatisation of them by the criminal justice system."
Ms Ramsey-Palmer said the nationwide rollout could also end what she described as a current "postcode lottery" caused by limited specialist provision.
'A frightening experience'
The Government says the changes are intended to improve victims' experiences of the criminal justice system and reduce delays.
Ministry of Justice figures cited alongside the announcement show that, in 2025, rape cases took an average of 424 days to complete after reaching the Crown Court.
Ms Ramsey-Palmer said attending court could already be an intimidating and traumatic experience for victims and argued that the existing arrangements could deter some from pursuing a case.
She said: "Going to court is a frightening experience all by itself. It's re-traumatising."
She said that without suitable arrangements, victims could find themselves entering a court building alongside the person accused of the offence, or their family and supporters.
She added: "It genuinely puts people off wanting to pursue justice through the court process or indeed wanting to report in the first place."
Ms Ramsey-Palmer said specialist courtrooms and trained staff could therefore make a "significant difference" to victims' experiences.
The Government says the new courtrooms will include private waiting areas and entrances for victims. These facilities already exist in some courts, but ministers say the rollout will provide specialist facilities across the Crown Court estate.
Fixed trial dates
Under the reforms, rape and serious sexual offence trials will be given fixed dates rather than being placed on floating lists.
Ms Ramsey-Palmer welcomed the greater certainty this could offer but said the success of the change would depend on courts having sufficient resources to ensure hearings went ahead when scheduled.
She said: "Giving a fixed date is reassuring as long as there are systems in play to ensure that the cases are actually heard when they're scheduled."
She said victims waiting for a trial could struggle to fully move forward from what they had experienced while knowing they would eventually have to recount it in court.
Official statistics published in June showed the overall Crown Court open caseload remained at around 80,000 cases at the end of March 2026. More than 22,000 cases had been open for at least a year, with sexual offences and violence against the person accounting for more than half of those longer-running cases.
Call for support services to be involved
Court staff working within the specialist provision are also due to receive trauma-informed training.
Ms Ramsey-Palmer said she wanted organisations already supporting victims of domestic and sexual violence to be involved in shaping and potentially delivering that training.
She said: "Local domestic and sexual violence support services are key in this.
"So I really hope they come out to the sector to ask about what's best and who can deliver that. The sooner the better."
She said effective trauma-informed training should help staff understand the impact sexual violence can have on victims and their families, while recognising that individual experiences and responses to trauma differ.
Ms Ramsey-Palmer also said consideration should be given to supporting court staff who may themselves have experienced sexual or domestic violence.
'It's all about resource'
While welcoming the court reforms, Ms Ramsey-Palmer warned that greater pressure could be placed on organisations supporting victims if cases progress more quickly.
She said demand for Leeway's services was already high and that the organisation was seeing people requiring increasingly complex and longer-term support.
"It's all about resource," she said.
"This is not a quick fix. Whilst this experience will not define somebody for the rest of their lives, actually it will be with them for the rest of their lives.
"So there is a real need for investment in long-term support services who can support people to fully recover and not need to come back into crisis services."
She called on the Government to ensure organisations working with victims had sustained resources, arguing that recovery could not be confined to a standard timeframe.
"The Government is going to need to back that up with year-on-year resources to allow services to really do their work and enable people to move on," she said.
"And that does mean money and training and staff and time."
Ms Ramsey-Palmer also urged ministers to consult specialist organisations as the detailed plans are developed, including over what support should be available to victims after their cases conclude.
Government says changes will put victims first
Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the Government was making "major changes" because victims of rape and serious sexual offences had been let down by the justice system.
The Government says its reforms are intended to reduce uncertainty and delays, improve victims' experience of court and encourage more people to report sexual offences.
Rape Crisis England & Wales has also welcomed the specialist court plans as a step in the right direction. The organisation said effective implementation could help address delays and make court environments safer and more appropriate for survivors.
Ms Ramsey-Palmer said the fixed-date system could become an important part of survivors' recovery if the wider court system had the resources to deliver those dates as promised.
She said having the opportunity to give evidence and potentially see justice served was "a huge milestone in people's journey of recovery".