Rape survivors in North London are waiting more than seven years for their day in court, with one case already scheduled for 2029. For those supporting victims of sexual violence, the wait can become another source of trauma, with repeated delays forcing survivors to relive their experiences while putting their lives on hold.
Proposed specialist courts for rape and sexual offences are being cautiously welcomed by charities, who hope fixed trial dates and prioritised cases could begin to tackle a system one advocate says can feel “worse than the actual violence”.
Advocates report lengthy delays and low conviction rates
Ayesha Quigley, a Senior Independent Sexual Violence Advocate at North London Rape Crisis, said: “I think I’ve been in court nearly 40 times supporting survivors. I have only ever had two guilty verdicts, so that tells you the rate of prosecutions and guilty verdicts.
“For a long time, survivors of rape and serious sexual offences have been repeatedly discouraged to seek justice that they deserve due to lengthy court delays [during] which we see survivors exposed to their abusers.
“We have heard from some of the survivors we work with that the court process can be intimidating at best and re-traumatising at worst. Some people have described going through the court process as worse than the actual reported violence.”
In the first quarter of 2026, the average wait time from when a person is charged with the rape of an adult to the court case being completed was 379 days, according to government statistics. For the same period, the average for all crime from charge to the court case being finished was 203 days. Ms Quigley said she has seen some survivors have had to wait more than seven years for their trial after reporting the violence.
Specialist courts and fixed dates announced
Cases of rape and sexual offences will be dealt with at specialist courtrooms across England and Wales, the Prime Minister announced on September 21. Rape cases will be prioritised, Andy Burnham said, and trials will be given a fixed date instead of being put on “floating lists” where they can be delayed for months at short notice.
The changes will take place over the next two years. Ms Quigley welcomes the court changes on the whole, and said that they “could have a positive affect on encouraging more survivors to come and seek the justice that they deserve”.
Part of the package of proposed changes is sexual violence trials being taken off “floating” lists, where they are not given an exact date and confirmation is given last-minute.
Impact of floating lists and repeated adjournments
Ms Quigley explained the impact that this can have on survivors. She said: “For survivors, a trial that’s placed on a floating list, it’s deeply unsettling - it’s living every day with that uncertainty.
“They are trying to carry on with their every day lives and that lack of a firm date can make it really difficult to emotionally prepare, practically, financially prepare for going to court.”
When the trial date actually comes around, she said: “They have to rearrange work, childcare, and I have definitely had it where childcare and everything has been set and they have paid money and they found out the day of the trial it’s being adjourned until next year. Then explaining to your family and your friends you have the case has been delayed again - not only the survivors will be affected.”
Repeated delays can affect survivors’ sense of closure, according to Ms Quigley. “We just had a trial set for 2029 in North London Rape Crisis for a survivor,” she said. All of the survivors she’s helping whose cases were meant to go to trial this year have had the trial adjourned.
Ms Quigley said: “Because I think we already have a backlog to get through, we already have a survivor’s trial date in 2029, it definitely worries me.” She worries that more people will drop out because they “can’t stay with the process for another three, four, five years to then bring it all up again”.
Court facilities and calls for reform
Ms Quigley said that at Southwark Crown Court can add to the trauma as the entrance is not sufficiently hidden from the main entrance. This leaves survivors feeling “really exposed when they arrive”, they want to get in “quite quickly” because they worry who might be “coming around the corner”.
“We speak to survivors all the time that say they feel that the defendant or the person who has abused them can use the court system as a way to further intimidate them,” she said.
Lucy Duckworth, National Policy Lead at survivor support organisation The Survivors Trust, said that private entrances and waiting rooms are “essential” and their introduction to courts across England and Wales would make an “absolutely huge difference” to survivors.
“Some of the things that can be done are so simple and can be done instantly. It doesn’t take much to train staff, to stagger the entrance time of victims and perpetrators,” she said.
Ms Duckworth hopes the reforms will encourage more victims to come forward as the government has claimed. She has also seen survivors not wanting to return to the court process because the preparation to go to court is “hugely traumatic”.
Ms Duckworth added: “It’s going to take time for trust to be re-built in a system which is currently failing survivors.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Violence against women and girls is a national emergency, and we need to treat it as such.
“That is why we are investing more than £1 billion to tackle violence against women and girls, including £550 million for victim support services, alongside measures to strengthen protections, target perpetrators and tackle harmful attitudes before they lead to violence.
“Dedicated courtrooms for rape and sexual offences are another important part of this work, helping victims get the specialist support they need their cases and reducing delays.”
