Voice of the Victim

Voice of the Victim Resource

The Voice of the Victim resource helps forces and partner organisations strengthen how they listen to, learn from, and act on victim experiences to ensure that both practice and responses are shaped by victim’s voice. 

This resource includes:

• Setting out the strategic overview, purpose, and use of the resource.Overarching Guidance Document
• 7 Stages of Developing Engagement Practices – a step-by-step approach to embedding the voice of the victim across your organisation. See wheel graphic above please click in sections to read in full.  Note: The arrows around the circle illustrate that each stage of planning should be continually considered and reviewed. While the stages are shown as distinct within the diagram, many are interrelated and complement one another. For this reason, it is recommended that all stages are read and understood before beginning any planning activity.
• Appendices – supporting materials, to assist implementation.

Appendix AAppendix B

Who is this for ?

• Strategic public protection leads and chief officers
• User voice, victim engagement, and public scrutiny leads
• Practitioners involved in any stage of engagement practices with victim/survivors, for example those developing domestic abuse surveys or designing security and No Further Action (NFA) panels
• Anyone seeking to improve how victim feedback informs service design and delivery

It is particularly relevant for teams who want to ensure the victim’s perspective is central to decision-making and performance improvement.

How to use the resource

• Benchmark your existing practice against national learning, good practice and evidence-based learning
• Develop engagement practice design with victim/survivors and sense-check your methods
• Develop or strengthen your victim/survivor voice and engagement activity
• Use the voice of victim / survivor to enact change and drive improvement

Whether you’re reviewing current practice or building new approaches, this resource provides a structured, practical way to put victim/survivors experiences at the heart of policing.

Why is this important?

• Driving Cultural Change – Engaging victims in service design fosters a shift from a police-centric approach to a victim-centred one, helping to challenge stereotypes, and create more empathetic, trauma-informed responses.
• Improving Services and Outcomes – Incorporating victims' perspectives helps forces design services that better meet victims' needs, leading to more victim-centred policing and improved criminal justice outcomes.
• Rebuilding Trust and Confidence - Victim-survivor engagement is key to rebuilding trust and legitimacy in policing.
• Supporting Vulnerable and Marginalised Groups - Listening to victims affected by vulnerability or structural inequalities ensures services are inclusive and responsive to diverse needs.

In support of this work, Gabrielle Shaw, Chief Executive of NAPAC (National Association for People Abused in Childhood) said:

"NAPAC hears every day from victims and survivors on our support line that being heard is about more than telling their story once. It is about choice, and seeing their experiences shape what happens next. We know police forces are under intense pressure, and that turning good intentions about ‘listening to victims’ into consistent practice is not easy. This guidance offers a richly-evidenced, positive and practical roadmap for trauma-informed engagement. This will help forces move from ad hoc consultation to a way of working where victim and survivor voices routinely shape culture and frontline decision-making."

Defining the Voice of the Victim

In 2024, the VKPP developed an evidence-based definition in partnership with the CSE Taskforce, led by the Hydrant Programme. The definition aims to improve the way in which victim/survivors’ voices are heard across policing and builds on the evidence base published in the 2023 VKPP work, ‘Victims’ Voices and Experiences in Response and Investigation: A Study of Police Personnel in England and Wales in Responding to Vulnerability-Related Risk and Harm 

‘Voice of the victim/survivor’ refers to the perspective of individuals (adults and children) who have been impacted by crime or harm: either through lived experience, as a witness, family member, friend or colleague.

Please note that The Victims' Code of Practice (VCOP) uses a definition that is confined to victims only.

“Trust and confidence begins and ends with how policing engages with the victim, how we really listen and respond to support and safeguard that person.” Ian Critchley QPM – former National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead for Child Protection.

The VKPP have published two ground-breaking reports that explore how policing understands the ‘voice of the victim’. This is the first known research project to hear directly from those working in policing, to know what helps or hinders them in prioritising, hearing and responding to it.

The Reports

Voice of the Victim I – Victims’ Voices and Experiences in Response and Investigation: A Study of Police Personnel in England and Wales in Responding to Vulnerability-Related Risk and Harm

Read full report - Voice of the Victim I

This first study examines policing perspectives on their direct engagement with victims in both response and investigation. It considers how capability, opportunity and motivational factors can impact on police approaches to voice of the victim.

Voice of the Victim II – The Voice of the Victim in Police Service Design

Read full report - Voice of the Victim II

The second study maps a more strategic view of how some forces engage with victim-survivors to improve overall design of services, better meeting the needs of victims.

The projects are complementary, sharing important insights for strategic and operational police, identifying some of the key systemic challenges that need to be tackled to improve the way we positively engage with victims and victim-survivors to help us build and re-build trust with the community.   

The research takes an evidence-led approach to explore where and how improvements can be made across forces.

 What is meant by voice of the victim?

• We use the term ‘voice of the victim’ to include a broader understanding of victims’ and witnesses’ experience of policing. So, not just the ‘voice’ of victims/witnesses but their wider experience of engagement with police and the care they .

Why does voice of the victim matter?

• The voice and experience of victims is central to the work of policing. Understanding how police listen and respond to the ‘voice of the victim’ is key to improving services; a foundation stone in building trust and confidence more broadly.
• In policing we know that we need to do more to meet expectations, especially when supporting vulnerable victims.
• Understanding and improving voice of the victim can both inform and support ongoing work in policing to reduce attrition rates in vulnerability cases, especially in relation to victim withdrawal from investigations and cases.
• Our findings provide key insights into how outcomes and victim satisfaction can be improved.

Recommendations have been informed by the findings from the national survey, interviews and focus group, and consultations. They include:

• Policing needs to define and prioritise the ‘voice of the victim’ within overarching force priorities alongside policies, strategic planning, and performance measurement.
• Personnel need ongoing support to develop the appropriate skills, and critically the relational skills and confidence to successfully engage with a diverse range of victims.
• Forces should adopt a trauma-informed lens on their engagement with victims.
• Forces should foster a culture of support to manage thresholds of acceptability when they are engaging with complex cases so they can still respond appropriately to vulnerability.

Ongoing work driven by the VKPP and the Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Taskforce will also support how the recommendations can be addressed.

Should those in forces be tasked with actioning the recommendations, we will be providing resources, guidance and support. Please see below.