The Ministry of Justice has awarded £8.7 million to Rape Crisis England & Wales to continue the national 24/7 Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Line. The grant runs from 1 October 2026 to 30 September 2029 and secures round-the-clock provision for victims and survivors aged 16 and over in England and Wales. In the government announcement, ministers presented the award as part of a wider commitment to halve violence against women and girls and to secure swifter justice for victims. The line is free to use, confidential and trauma-informed, with support available by telephone and webchat at any time of day.
The support line is open to people affected by rape, child sexual abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violence, whether the abuse was recent or happened years earlier. The Ministry of Justice said the service has been in operation since 2022. According to the department, the line has already supported survivors through more than 200,000 calls and 75,000 webchats. Those figures indicate sustained demand for a national specialist service and help explain why the government has moved to put the next funding period in place before October 2026.
The service is designed as more than a listening line. The government said helpline specialists can provide confidential emotional support and help direct victims and survivors towards longer-term services, including where a caller has never disclosed the offence to anyone else. The new grant is also intended to widen access. Rape Crisis England & Wales is expected to add British Sign Language interpretation and strengthen provision for survivors with different needs. In practical terms, that means the funding is being used both to preserve capacity and to improve reach.
In remarks released with the announcement, victims minister Alex Davies-Jones said many survivors of rape and sexual assault feel lost or unsure where to turn. The Ministry of Justice used that account to frame the helpline as a first point of contact for people seeking clear information, reassurance and specialist support. Rape Crisis England & Wales chief executive Ciara Bergman said the renewed grant would allow the organisation to continue national delivery of confidential, free support. She also linked the service's scale since launch to the work of staff, volunteers and partner organisations across the Rape Crisis network.
The announcement also sits alongside a separate decision on prison sentence reforms. The Prime Minister and the Lord Chancellor said rape, certain child sexual offences and other grooming offences will be barred from the forthcoming changes. According to the government, those offences will be added to exclusions already applying to 18,000 offenders, including people found by a court to be the most dangerous and anyone serving a life sentence. The Ministry of Justice is therefore combining a victim support funding announcement with a clear public protection message on sentencing.
The £8.7 million grant forms part of a wider funding package for victims and witnesses. The government said it will invest £550 million over the next three years in specialist services that provide practical and emotional support, including counselling and advice on attending court. Taken together, the measures combine access to support with a sentencing signal on serious sexual offending. For service providers and survivors, the point to watch from October 2026 is delivery: continuity of the national line, rollout of accessibility changes and effective referral into longer-term support.