Free legal advice for rape victims starts - mayor

Sadiq Khan's office says the trial will run for a year

A free legal advice service for victims of rape and serious sexual offences has been launched by the Mayor of London.

Sadiq Khan promised he would launch the service as a "pilot" in his recent re-election manifesto.

It comes after “setbacks” forced an earlier version of the scheme to be paused last year.

Mr Khan’s office said the trial would run until June 2025 and would provide help for victims aged 16 and over.

The mayor's office said referrals to the new service would come via independent sexual violence advisers based at the London Survivors Gateway – which offers support to victims in accessing specialist help.

In the coming weeks, referrals will also start to come from the Met Police in the boroughs of Hackney and Tower Hamlets, which have been selected as part of the year-long trial.

The University of Loughborough will assess the pilot, with interim findings expected in early 2025.

'Setbacks'

An earlier attempt to provide the service was launched in February 2023 but “experienced a number of setbacks, primarily as a result of challenges in recruiting and retaining lawyers to the project”, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) said.

It was paused six months later to "reflect and consider how to improve the cost effectiveness of the pilot and build resilience into the workforce”, MOPAC added.

Officials said the original £70,000 budget for the project “did not include the infrastructure that would be needed around the lawyers, including specialist training, paralegal support, counsel advice, supervision and management support”.

The new pilot service will make use of an extra £148,500 of funding, City Hall said.

It will consist of two full-time lawyers, accompanied by the necessary administrative support.

The service was first formally proposed by Mr Khan in his 2022 strategy for Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls.

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said the pilot would "better support victims of crime".

They added: “The mayor is determined to ensure that ending violence against women and girls is treated with the utmost urgency by both the police and society as a whole."