The Victims' Commissioner submitted the consultation response on 3 February 2022. You can find the full response online, either available as a downloadable PDF or navigate these pages to find responses to individual chapters and questions.
The Victims’ Law consultation consists of four chapters and an equalities section. You can navigate to the full responses and responses to individual questions using the navigational links at the top and bottom of these pages.
View the full consultation document on the Ministry of Justice website.
Consultation response (PDF)
Should you prefer to view and download a PDF version of the consultation response, you can find below the final consultation response, as submitted by the Victims’ Commissioner to the Ministry of Justice on 3 February 2022. This comprises three separate documents:
- The complete Victims’ Law consultation response;
- Appendix 1: Framework for enacting the Victims’ Code (diagram);
- Appendix 2: Data on victims and receipt of Victims’ Code rights (table of data);
The Ministry of Justice public consultation is the first significant step towards a landmark ‘Victims’ Law’ – a bill that will build on the foundations provided by the Victims’ Code to substantially improve victims’ experiences of the criminal justice system. The consultation considers how the criminal justice system can make concrete improvements to victims’ experience of and confidence in the criminal justice system, and their support.
The consultation asks questions across five key issues, focusing on:
- What victims should expect
- Performance and accountability
- The Victim Surcharge
- Community-based support services
- Improved advocacy support
View and respond to the consultation online (Ministry of Justice website).
This section will list the latest updates, including when sections were published and updated.
- PDF version of the consultation response were made available to download on 3 February 2022.
- The 'Equality considerations' section was published on 2 February 2022.
- Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4 were updated on 1 and 2 February 2022. Updates are reflected in the respective updated questions.
- Data on victims and receipt of Victims' Code rights was published on 28 January 2022.
- Chapter 2 was published on 27 January 2022.
- Chapter 1 was published on 26 January 2022.
- Chapter 4 (Q38/39/40) was updated on 26 January 2022.
- Chapter 4 was published on 24 January 2022.
- Chapter 3 was published on 21 January 2022.
We acknowledge some victims dislike the negative connotations occasionally associated with the term ‘victim’. Some victims and many non-statutory agencies prefer to use the word ‘survivor’. Lawyers often prefer to use the term ‘complainant’ when referring to victims before and during a trial. We respect their views.
For the purposes of this consultation, however, we have used the term ‘victim’ because it’s the term that most agencies use and understand when referring to someone who has experienced victimisation.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is in the process of developing what they hope will be a clear and consistent set of metrics on Victims' Code compliance, which we welcome. We include a table of suggested data, which we view as necessary to collect in order to monitor compliance with the Victims' Code. This is to accompany our responses to Chapter 2 and Chapter 4.
View the table: data on victims and receipt of Victims' Code rights.
This section lists various relevant resources which may help when compiling responses to the consultation.
- The Victims’ Law consultation website
- The Victims’ Commissioner’s Victims’ Law Policy Paper
- Report: Constitutional powers of the Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales
- Report: The role and rights of victims of crime in adversarial criminal justice systems: Recommendations for reform in England & Wales