The Crown Prosecution Service has confirmed that its Universal Service for victims and Enhanced Service for survivors of domestic abuse will now operate permanently in every CPS Area. In a government announcement, the CPS said the model, trialled in pilot areas since 2023, is becoming the standard offer across England and Wales. The change forms part of the Victim Transformation Programme announced by the Attorney General, Ellie Reeves KC MP. The policy moves a pilot arrangement into day-to-day national practice, which means victim contact rules should no longer depend on whether a case sits inside a former test area.
Under the national model, all victims will be able to choose how the CPS communicates with them, whether by telephone, email or post. The CPS has also said victims should receive correspondence more quickly and to a better standard than before. For domestic abuse cases, the enhanced element is the appointment of a dedicated victim liaison officer. According to the government announcement, that officer is intended to support the victim from charge to trial, giving a named point of contact within the prosecution process.
This is a service reform rather than a change to criminal law. The announcement concerns communication and support standards within the prosecution system, not a new offence or a new court procedure. For policy readers, the main point is consistency. A scheme that was previously limited to selected areas is now being applied across the prosecution service in England and Wales, reducing local variation in how victims are contacted and updated.
For victims, the contact-preference measure is also significant. Domestic abuse cases can require careful handling of routine messages, hearing updates and case information, and a formal choice between telephone, email and post gives the CPS a clearer basis for recording how each victim wants to be contacted. A named liaison officer is intended to reduce the need for victims to raise basic queries through different contacts as a case moves forward. The government position is that support should be more continuous between charge and trial, with quicker and better-quality correspondence forming part of the standard service.
For prosecutors and local CPS teams, making the programme permanent means the model becomes an operational commitment rather than a temporary trial. Every CPS Area will need the staff time, case-handling processes and oversight required to maintain named contacts for domestic abuse victims and to record communication preferences for all victims. That matters because a national promise creates a national benchmark. Once the service is described as permanent and universal, performance can be judged against a published expectation instead of against local pilot arrangements.
The broader policy significance is that the government is using administrative reform to change how victims experience the justice system. The Attorney General has presented the move as part of a wider effort to place victims more firmly within the prosecution process, while the CPS is framing it as a permanent public service standard. The main test now is delivery across live cases in every part of England and Wales. If the model works as intended, victims should see clearer contact routes, more timely case updates and a more consistent level of support, particularly in domestic abuse prosecutions.