Revising the Victims’ Code
Read the full outcome
Detail of outcome
We proposed and have subsequently made 3 main amendments to the Victims’ Code:
- to broaden our definition of a victim so that victims of all criminal offences are eligible to receive services under the Code
- to extend application of the Code to other relevant investigative and prosecutorial organisations which perform functions covered by the Directive (new Chapter 5)
- to ensure that victims who report a crime receive a written acknowledgement
We also proposed and have made a number of other smaller changes. The majority of these either codify (for transposition purposes) what is already happening in practice or require small adjustments to existing policy or practice.
This report summarises the responses, including how the consultation process influenced the final version of the Victims’ Code.
Original consultation
Consultation description
The code of practice for victims of crime is central to our strategy for transposing the EU Victims’ Directive (2012/29/EU) which establishes minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, and which comes into force on 16 November 2015. We are therefore seeking your views on what are technical changes required for compliance.
The consultation includes proposals to:
- extend the services offered under the code to victims of any criminal offence, not just victims of the more serious criminal offences that are notifiable under the National Crime Recording Standards (NCRS)
- make sure that victims are entitled to receive support and information from relevant public sector investigative and prosecutorial organisations, not just the police and Crown Prosecution Service
- make sure that a victim who reports a crime receives a written acknowledgment which states the basic elements of the criminal offence concerned
We are also proposing to make a number of smaller amendments to the Victims’ Code, which are described in the appendix to the consultation document.
Updates to this page
Last updated 18 December 2015 + show all updates
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Code of practice for victims of crime (Welsh version) added to page.
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Updated to include consultation response, code of practice for victims of crime, impact assessment and equalities assessment.
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First published.