NO TIME FOR DELAY A CALL FOR URGENT ACTION FOR SCOTLAND’S SURVIVORS OF RAPE AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE
AUGUST 2026 Scottish Charity, no SC055595
1. FOREWORD As founding members of the Scottish Rape Crisis Alliance (SRCA), we are deeply concerned by the escalating crisis of male sexual violence against women and girls in Scotland. While this long-standing global crisis is not unique to Scotland, preventing, combating, and eradicating it requires sustained, focused, and fully resourced actions. Behind Scotland’s soaring sexual offence statistics are thousands of women and girls left to navigate complex trauma while waiting months for the specialist support they have a right to receive. As frontline service providers, we are witnessing unprecedented demand for support and advocacy. Collectively, our member centres delivered 40% of national support, assisting 4,393 survivors of rape and sexual violence in Scotland in 2025–26. Yet our waiting lists continue to grow. We appreciate the efforts of the Scottish Government to address male violence against women and girls. We applaud its ambitions and the resources it has already devoted to the issue. Equally Safe: Scotland’s national strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls has made important inroads in legislation, policy and specialist provision. But it has yet to deliver the transformational change we so urgently need. What is needed now is delivery: funding that reflects need, sufficient capacity to meet demand, timely access to specialist support, and sustained investment in prevention. The purpose of this report is to outline the immediate action we believe is required to address this escalating crisis. We set out the critical steps that can be included in the forthcoming Programme for Government to ensure that specialist frontline services receive sustainable funding and the capacity required to meet rising demand safely and effectively. Sexual violence is preventable, but only if we commit to long-term change together. Board of Trustees Scottish Rape Crisis Alliance
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2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
SCOTLAND IS FACING A SEXUAL VIOLENCE CRISIS Sexual crime in Scotland is at its highest recorded level since 1971. Reported rape and attempted rape increased by 11% in the last year and by 72% over the last decade.[1] These figures represent only reported/recorded crime so tell only part of the story. Sexual violence is hugely under-reported, while new forms of harm, including online and digital, continue to emerge. In 2025–26, an estimated 4,410 sexual crimes in Scotland had a cyber element, representing 27% of all sexual crimes. At least 1,420 of these involved a victim under 18. [2] At the same time, women and girls who need specialist support are being left waiting for months. Across Scottish Rape Crisis Alliance (SRCA) centres, demand has reached unprecedented levels. Waiting lists continue to grow because there is simply not enough capacity. This is the gap at the heart of our report. Across our centres:
384
170
267
are waiting for a service
is the average waiting time
is the longest wait
WOMEN & GIRLS
DAYS
DAYS
A woman can ask for help today and still be waiting nearly nine months later. Waiting is not a neutral experience. It can prolong trauma, making it harder for survivors to maintain employment, education, relationships and family life while managing the consequences of abuse.
1.Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26, Sexual crimes 2.Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26, Sexual crimes
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The SRCA brings together four specialist rape crisis services: Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis; Lanarkshire Rape Crisis Centre; The STAR Centre (Rape Crisis Ayrshire); and Western Isles Rape Crisis Centre. The evidence from SRCA centres cannot tell us precisely what is happening across Scotland. Our data do not provide a national assessment of need. They do, however, provide substantial evidence of the scale and growth of demand across a significant proportion of the country. Together our four centres serve 12 local authority areas, representing approximately 31% of Scotland’s female population, and providing around 40% of national rape crisis support. In 2025–26, 6,806 of the 16,430 sexual crimes recorded by Police Scotland — 41% — occurred in the 12 local authority areas served by SRCA’s founding members. Since 2016-17, recorded rape and attempted rape has increased by 99% in our catchment areas compared with an [3] overall national increase of 72%. The figures give some indication of the scale of need in the areas we cover. They also raise an important national question: Can Scotland guarantee women and girls equitable access to the specialist support they need, wherever they live? At present, the answer to that is NO.
3.Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26, Table 1 4.Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26, Table 1
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FUNDING MUST FOLLOW NEED We welcome Scotland’s commitment to tackling violence against women and girls, and the investment that has accompanied this goal through Delivery Equally Safe Fund (DES), and the resource provided by the Victim Centred Approach Fund (VCAF) for the National Advocacy Project. But the issue is not just the overall amount of available funding. It is whether that funding is sufficient to meet demand and whether it is being distributed fairly and according to need. Between 2021 and 2024, SRCA member centres received approximately 24% of DES funding allocated to rape crisis centres while serving areas with around 31% of Scotland’s female population. [5] There is also disparity in VCAF allocations. Glasgow & Clyde Rape Crisis receives 8% of the National Advocacy Project funds while serving 22% of the population and undertaking approximately 25% of total advocacy work across the country. These figures do not, by themselves, establish what the correct allocation to centres should be. Population is not the sole criterion for funding. A fair funding model must also take account of prevalence, demand, deprivation, rurality and island geography, complexity of need and other local factors. But the disparities are significant enough to require urgent examination. Funding should follow need.
5.See appendix, centre to allocated DES funding table
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FROM AMBITION TO ACTION We have the building blocks for change: Equally Safe: Scotland’s national strategy for preventing and eradicating violence against women and girls has provided Scotland with a national framework. Despite a welcome degree of progress, reported rape and attempted rape offences have increased by around 60% since its launch, and reported sexual assaults have risen by 29%. [6] The Independent Strategic Review of Funding and Commissioning of Violence Against women and Girls Services (2023) set out clear recommendations for sustainable, equitable services. Three years after its publication, the evidence from SRCA services shows these recommendations have not yet translated into sufficient frontline capacity. The evidence from SRCA indicates that demand is rising, capacity is insufficient, and resources do not reflect actual need. Scotland knows what needs to be done. Will the Scottish Government use the next Programme for Government to turn ambition and advice into delivery? Reported offences: change since Equally Safe Percentage increase in reported rape and attempted rape and sexual assault offences. 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%
Rape & attempted rape
6.Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland 2024-25, Sexual Crime
Sexual assault
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NO TIME FOR DELAY SRCA calls on the Scottish Government to recognise and respond swiftly and decisively to this crisis. We ask that the next Programme for Government should act on access, funding and prevention by making the following commitments: 1. GUARANTEE EQUITABLE ACCESS Develop a national approach to funding specialist rape crisis services based on need, so that access to specialist support does not depend on where a survivor lives.
2. ACT ON WHAT WE KNOW WILL WORK Publish and fund a clear implementation plan for the recommendations of the Independent Strategic Review, including action to establish sustainable, stable and equitable funding for specialist services.
3. END THE WAITING, BY RIGHT Establish a statutory right to access the minimum core specialist services identified by the Independent Strategic Review alongside a national access standard. We propose that this should ensure access to specialist rape crisis support within 30 days of asking for it.
4. INVEST IN PREVENTION Develop and fund a long-term, evidence-based public health and wholesociety-programme to prevent sexual violence and violence against women and girls.
5. STRENGTHEN ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY Set measurable national outcomes for prevention, access, waiting times, geographical equity and service capacity, and report publicly on progress.
Women are waiting.
THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW.
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3. A NATIONAL CHALLENGE
THE PICTURE IN THE WEST OF SCOTLAND The need for increased funding has been made repeatedly by specialist services working to support women and girls who have experienced abuse. This is not a new issue. In the absence of a national assessment of need, however, the precise shortfall across the country is not known. What we do know is that the scale of need continues to grow. SRCA brings together four specialist rape crisis services, Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis, Lanarkshire Rape Crisis Centre, The STAR Centre (Rape Crisis Ayrshire) and Western Isles Rape Crisis Centre. Collectively, our centres serve 12 local authority areas, representing approximately 31% of Scotland's female population. Together they provide specialist, trauma-informed support to thousands of women and girls each year and deliver around 40% of national rape crisis support. Our data should not be interpreted as nationally representative. However, they do provide a substantial picture of need across a significant proportion of the country, while highlighting the wider challenge facing all specialist services nationally. And they raise an important national question:
CAN SCOTLAND GUARANTEE WOMEN AND GIRLS EQUITABLE ACCESS TO THE SPECIALIST SUPPORT THEY NEED, WHEREVER THEY LIVE? Our data show why that question requires urgent attention.
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WHAT OUR DATA TELLS US In 2025–26, 6,806 of the 16,430 sexual crimes recorded by Police Scotland — 41% — came from the 12 local authority areas served by SRCA's founding members.[7] This represents: a 13% increase compared with 2024–25, compared with a 10% increase across Scotland; a 65% increase since 2016–17, compared with a 48% increase across Scotland.
SRCA PRESENCE Glasgow and Clyde Glasgow City East Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire East Renfrewshire Renfrewshire Inverclyde Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire South Lanarkshire The STAR Centre North Ayrshire East Ayrshire South Ayrshire Na h-Eileanan an Iar/Western Isles
7.Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26, Table 1
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Recorded rape and attempted rape have increased by 99% since 2016– 17 across the 12 local authority areas served by SRCA's founding members, compared with a 72% increase across Scotland as a whole.
[8]
Within those figures, the increases are particularly pronounced in some areas: 193% in North and South Lanarkshire; 128% in East, North and South Ayrshire. These figures illustrate the scale and growth of need in the areas served by SRCA centres. They also raise a serious question about whether Scotland's existing funding model is sufficiently responsive to overall need.
% increase in recorded rape/attempted rape since 2016–17 Scotland (all)
SRCA 12 areas
E, N & S Ayrshire
N & S Lanarkshire
0%
50%
8.Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26, Table 1
100%
150%
200%
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WOMEN ARE WAITING We know that recorded sexual crime is only the tip of the iceberg. Every day, rape crisis services receive referrals from women who have never reported their abuse to the police but are still living with its profound impact. The picture is stark. Last year, SRCA centres supported 4,393 women and girls, aged between 13 and 83. The Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis helpline also supported 1,994 individuals. Alongside planned support sessions, SRCA services maintained contact with women and girls by telephone, email and text. We made contact approximately 77,400 times with the 4,393 survivors supported. Yet demand continues to outstrip capacity. Currently:
384
170
267
are waiting for a service
is the average waiting time
is the longest wait
WOMEN & GIRLS
DAYS
DAYS
Waiting is not a neutral experience. For a survivor of sexual violence, it can mean months of continuing to live with trauma without the specialist support she has actively sought. It can mean trying to work, study, parent and maintain relationships while dealing with the consequences of abuse. Many women who come to our services have experienced repeated rape or sexual abuse and many wait years before seeking support. Often, they tell us that the person who harmed them was someone they loved, trusted or depended upon. Scottish Charity, no SC055595
Women are asking for help. Specialist services are responding. But there is not enough capacity to meet the need quickly enough. This is not simply a problem for individual organisations. It is a national access problem. The Independent Strategic Review recognised that women should be able to access specialist services regardless of where they live, and recommended a minimum core services model designed to establish a floor below which provision should not fall. The principle is straightforward: A woman's access to specialist support should not depend on her postcode.
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DOES FUNDING FOLLOW NEED? The Scottish Government continues to invest in tackling violence against women and girls. SRCA welcomes that commitment. The Delivering Equally Safe Fund (DES) provides almost £23 million annually over 2026–28 to support specialist and other organisations [9] working to tackle violence against women and girls. There is also dedicated funding within the Victim Centred Approach Fund (VCAF) for the National Advocacy Project. Administered by Rape Crisis Scotland, this provides just over £2 million for advocacy services [10] for survivors of recent sexual assault. This investment is important but does not guarantee equitable access. The question is whether the overall level is sufficient to meet demand and whether it is distributed in a way that reflects need and service activity across Scotland. The evidence from SRCA services raises concerns on both fronts. We support women and girls across 12 local authority areas, covering approximately 31% of Scotland's female population, yet between 2021 and 2024, received approximately 24% of DES funding allocated to rape [11,12] crisis centres. A similar disparity can be seen in funding for the National Advocacy Project through VCAF. Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis receives approximately 8% of available VCAF funding, while its service area represents 22% of Scotland's population and it undertakes approximately 25% of national advocacy activity. These figures do not, by themselves, establish what the correct allocation to each centre should be. Population is not the only factor that should determine funding. A fair funding model must take account of prevalence, demand, service activity, deprivation, rurality and island geography, complexity of need and other local factors.
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However, the disparity is significant enough to warrant urgent examination. While an increase in the national funding pot for Scotland is essential, it will not necessarily resolve that problem. The 2026 blanket 5% uplift in the DES fund illustrates this point. Put simply: an increase in funding overall does not resolve inequitable distribution or ensure that funding translates into capacity in services experiencing the greatest demand. The problem is not just the overall funding amount. It is also that Scotland lacks a transparent national methodology to show that funding allocations correspond to assessed need. Funding must follow need, not historic allocation. And where a national standard of access is expected, there must be sufficient capacity to deliver it.
9.Scottish Government, “Funding to tackle violence against women and girls”, accessed 13 August 2026, https://www.gov.scot/policies/violence-against-women-and-girls/funding/ 10.VCAF total is £2,012,872 annually for 25/26 and 26/27 as referred to in the grant issued by SG to RCS dated 26 March 2025 11.Scottish Government, Delivering Equally Safe Allocations 2021/24, FOI 202500468616 12.Centres received £3,327,037 from an overall budget of £13,771,430
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THE COST OF INACTION The consequences of insufficient capacity are already visible. Services are trying to manage expanding waiting lists and respond to complex need. Women and girls are paying the cost. If capacity does not increase, the gap between demand and available support will undoubtedly continue to grow. Based on current referral trends and current staffing and assuming no material change during the funding period of DES and VCAF to 2028, SRCA’s service modelling indicates that there will be a significant increase in the numbers of women on both advocacy and therapeutic support. Our worst-case scenario envisages that by April 2028 we could have around 700 women waiting for emotional support and a further 1,400 survivors on our advocacy waiting lists. [13, 14, 15] This scenario is not a prediction of an inevitable future. Rather it illustrates the potential consequences of maintaining the status quo. A national assessment of need should be prioritised to inform the longerterm level and distribution of funding as part of the implementation of the Independent Strategic Review. But this does nothing to address the immediate capacity problem. And women cannot wait until this is concluded. The need for additional frontline capacity is undisputed. At SRCA we estimate that an increase of £500,000 VCAF and £375,000 DES funding across our services would enable us to recruit and train the staff needed to fulfil current demand through the extension periods of both funds [16] until 2028. The choice is between investing in sufficient capacity now or allowing unmet need and waiting lists to continue growing. 13.Based on demand levels from 1 April 2026 to 31 July 2026. For core support services, demand is not closely correlated to police recorded numbers, as these support survivors with historical sexual abuse and rape experiences too. 14.Based on total FTE workers in place, which increases from 20.8 FTE on 01 August 2026, to 23.8 FTE from 1 October 26 (accounts for training competition of 3 FT Workers at GCRC). 15.Based on unmet demand continuing at 33.5% for our collective service and being able to meet 66.5% of demand. 16.To recruit, train and begin inductions ahead of 27/28 financial year, so caseloads can be taken on by new workers from 1 Apr. 2027
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PREVENTION
CHANGING THE CONDITIONS THAT ALLOW SEXUAL VIOLENCE TO HAPPEN The focus of this report is primarily on the urgent need to address capacity issues within services in both the short and long term. However, it is also a call for a national approach to address the conditions that give rise to, and sustain, violence against women and girls. Scotland cannot arrest or prosecute its way out of the crisis of sexual violence. Nor can specialist services support their way out of it. There have been important initiatives over many years to prevent violence against women and girls. While misogyny and sexual inequality remain the central cause of violence against women, we need to respond to additional challenges around the scale and nature of abuse. Online platforms are creating new opportunities for sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, while misogyny can spread rapidly and reach young people at an unprecedented scale. Prevention must evolve alongside the nature of harm. We support the Independent Strategic Review's call for a stronger national approach to prevention, including the development of national infrastructure and leadership to drive this work. What is needed now is a properly funded, long-term and multifaceted prevention strategy that matches the scale of the problem and keeps pace with its changing nature. It should build on what is known to work, measure its impact and create sustained momentum for cultural and behavioural change. Scotland has demonstrated through other public health approaches that sustained action can influence behaviour and social norms. The same ambition should be applied to sexual violence. Scottish Charity, no SC055595
Prevention is not an alternative to specialist support, justice or accountability. It is what makes it possible, over time, to reduce the number of women and girls who need those responses in the first place
TURNING AMBITION INTO ACTION Scotland already has a clear foundation for change. The Independent Strategic Review set out a comprehensive framework for reforming the existing system, including: A statutory right to minimum core services; An end to geographical inequalities in service provision; A new funding model based on stable, multi-year funding with inflation-linked increases; A wide-ranging national approach to prevention. The Review was clear that the answer is not simply to put more money into the existing system. It proposed a different model: one designed around sustainable services, collaborative commissioning and funding based on need. Scotland has evidence and ambition in abundance. We have the national strategy, a blueprint provided by the Review, and decades of specialist service experience on which to draw. What is urgently needed is delivery at the pace and scale required. Three years after the publication of the Independent Strategic Review, women are still waiting. The evidence presented in this report shows the consequences of rising demand, insufficient capacity and funding that does not yet consistently follow need. The next Programme for Government provides an opportunity to change that.
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NO TIME FOR DELAY FIVE COMMITMENTS FOR THE 2026 PROGRAMME FOR GOVERNMENT The next Programme for Government presents a critical opportunity to take action on access, funding and prevention. The Scottish Rape Crisis Alliance calls on the Scottish Government to make five commitments. 1. GUARANTEE EQUITABLE ACCESS Develop a national approach to funding specialist rape crisis services based on need, so that access to specialist support does not depend on where a survivor lives.
2. ACT ON WHAT WE KNOW WILL WORK Publish a clear, funded implementation plan for the recommendations of the Independent Strategic Review, including action to establish sustainable, stable and equitable funding for specialist services.
3. END THE WAITING, BY RIGHT Establish a statutory right to access the minimum core specialist services identified by the Independent Strategic Review, alongside a national access standard. SRCA proposes that women and girls should be able to access specialist rape crisis support within 30 days of asking for it.
4. INVEST IN PREVENTION Develop and fund a long-term, evidence-based public health and wholesociety-programme to prevent sexual violence and violence against women and girls.
5. STRENGTHEN ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY Set measurable national outcomes for prevention, access, waiting times, geographical equity and service capacity, and report publicly on progress.
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CONCLUSION Scotland is at a crossroads. We cannot afford to stand still as waiting lists grow, reports of sexual violence rise and inequalities in access to specialist support widen. We must see the urgent challenge before us and rise to it. The next Programme for Government is an opportunity to close the gap between Scotland's ambition to eradicate violence against women and girls and the reality experienced by women who ask for help. It must be a point of delivery, not another point of commitment. The SRCA is calling on the Scottish Government to use the next Programme for Government to guarantee equitable access to specialist support, establish sustainable and equitable funding, end the unacceptable wait for support, invest in long-term prevention, and strengthen accountability and transparency. These are not new ambitions. They build on the recommendations of the Independent Strategic Review and the commitments already made by Government. What is needed now is the funding, capacity and action to deliver them. This is not simply a question for rape crisis services. It is a test of Scotland's wider commitment to preventing violence against women and girls and supporting those who experience it. Women are waiting.
THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW.
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ABOUT THE SCOTTISH RAPE CRISIS ALLIANCE FOUR CENTRES. ONE VOICE. The Scottish Rape Crisis Alliance is a registered Scottish charity. We are an alliance between four specialist rape crisis services: Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis, the STAR Centre (Rape Crisis Ayrshire), Lanarkshire Rape Crisis Centre and Western Isles Rape Crisis Centre. Collectively, our member centres serve 12 local authority areas representing approximately 31% of Scotland's female population. SRCA brings together the experience and evidence of established frontline services to advocate for systemic change. In the latest annual reporting period, our member centres supported more than 4,300 women and girls affected by rape and sexual violence and delivered approximately 40% of national rape crisis support. Our services provide specialist, trauma-informed support, advocacy, helpline and prevention services. Although women and girls remain the primary beneficiaries, our member centres also deliver universal criminal justice advocacy and prevention services and adhere to the Rape Crisis National Service Standards (RCNSS) in place across the United Kingdom. Together, our member centres have served survivors for 50 years.
OUR VISION Women and girls in Scotland live their lives free from the harm, fear and threat of sexual violence.
OUR MISSION Every woman and girl in Scotland who has survived rape or sexual abuse should have access to specialist support, wherever she lives.
OUR PURPOSE We formed the SRCA in response to the urgent situation facing women and girls in Scotland: the scale and persistence of sexual violence, demand for specialist support, and the need for a sustainable and equitable national response.
APPENDIX The SRCA’s allocation of Scottish Government Rape Crisis Funding DES Fund – 2021/24 (Initial cycle of 3.5 years) SRCA member centres cover 31% of the population, deliver 40% of support to survivors and received 24% of the £13.7 million DES funding for rape crisis services. *2022/23 RCS annual report support stats show that SRCA centres delivered 40% of all support in Scotland to 4,023 survivors. DES Fund 2025/26 (1 year bridging funding) SRCA centres continued to provide 40% of support to survivors in the rape crisis sector, and received just under 24% of the £4.5 million DES funding for rape crisis centres. Staffing Resources The 24% allocation of DES funding translates into 26.5 FTE workers to deliver services to 31% of the country. These 26.5 FTE posts cover both criminal justice Advocacy and core support workers. Link to DES funding allocation to rape crisis centres 2021-24
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