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Voice of the Victim resource

Measuring Impact Planning Inviting Participation Gathering Voice Managing Information Analysing Data Creating Change

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
  • Embed 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.