PM accelerates roll out of police rape and sexual offence teams

Deadline for police forces to have specialist teams in place brought forward by 18 months. All police forces in England and Wales will have specialist rape and sexual offence teams in place by December 2027, a year and a half ahead of the original deadline. The specialist teams are dedicated to investigating rape and sexual offences, supporting victims and bringing sex offenders to justice. Initially announced in the government’s landmark Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy last December, the rollout of specialist rape and sexual offence teams was due to be completed by the end of the Parliament in summer 2029. This will now be accelerated, bringing the deadline forward to December 2027, meaning specialist teams will be operating across the country more than a year earlier than planned. The scale of violence and abuse suffered by women and girls in this country is unacceptable. We must be laser focused on stamping out these vile crimes. These measures were going to be introduced in 2029, but I think that’s too slow. So we’re taking action to accelerate the roll out of specialist rape and sexual offence teams, who will go after perpetrators, enforce strict new protection orders to protect survivors, and invest in programmes to intensively manage offenders to break the cycle of abuse. Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls Satvir Kaur said : Violence against women and girls is one of the most critical challenges of our time, we must remain ambitious in tackling it and its root causes.