Burnham speeds up rollout of specialist rape and sex offence teams to forces

Sophie Wingate – Press Association Deputy Political Editor

Specialist rape and sex offences investigators will be introduced to every police force by the end of next year, with Andy Burnham accelerating the rollout amid efforts to tackle violence against women and girls.

The Prime Minister criticised the original summer 2029 deadline for the teams to be set up as “too slow” as he brought it forward by 18 months, saying ministers must be “laser focused on stamping out these vile crimes”.

The measures were first announced under his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership in December 2025 under his government’s violence against women and girls strategy.

Mr Burnham said: “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.”

Safeguarding minister Satvir Kaur said: “We are going further and faster to ensure victims and survivors of these devastating crimes get the protection and support they deserve.

“By ensuring every police force has specialist rape and sexual offence teams sooner, and funding for new protection order teams, we are strengthening our response, relentlessly pursuing perpetrators and helping victims live their life without fear.”

Funding has also been announced to bolster protection orders, which can be enforced through electronic tagging, exclusion zones and behaviour change programmes.

Up to 10 police forces across England and Wales will receive a share of a £13.3 million pot to help specialist teams improve the enforcement of the orders to better protect victims.

The funding will be met from Home Office budgets.

Domestic abuse protection orders are being rolled out with no maximum duration, meaning victims will not need to repeatedly apply for continued protection.

Under the orders, courts can set conditions for as long as needed to protect victims of all forms of domestic abuse, including physical, controlling or coercive behaviour, economic abuse and stalking.

A programme aimed at curbing reoffending by working with abuse perpetrators to address issues such as drug and alcohol misuse, first announced in July last year, is also being expanded.

Guidance and training on establishing specialist rape and sex offences teams has been made available to police forces by the Home Office and the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection.

The announcement comes as the Prime Minister faces pressure over the early release scheme to avert prison overcrowding, with campaigners urging him to exclude male perpetrators of violence against women or pause the scheme due to start in October.

Charities have warned him it “directly contradicts” Labour’s manifesto pledge to halve violence against women and girls.

Justice Secretary Alex Norris is due to set out findings of his review of the scheme when Parliament returns from summer recess next week.

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