CPS gives every domestic abuse victim a liaison officer ([gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cps-to-give-every-domestic-abuse-victim-a-dedicated-liaison-officer-nationwide))

From 27 September 2026, a new national offer is meant to change how the Crown Prosecution Service speaks to victims. The Attorney General’s Office says every victim and survivor of domestic abuse in England and Wales will now be offered a dedicated victim liaison officer, with the service made permanent across all CPS Areas after pilots that began in 2023. That may sound like a small administrative change, but it matters because most people do not experience the justice system as a set of policies. They experience it as waiting, not knowing, and trying to work out who is actually meant to call them back. This rollout is supposed to make that part clearer. (gov.uk)

To understand why this matters, it helps to know what the CPS actually does. The police investigate allegations and make arrests; the CPS reviews cases, decides whether there is enough evidence and whether a prosecution is in the public interest, prepares cases for court, and presents them. It is separate from the police and separate from government when making those prosecution decisions. So this announcement is not about reporting abuse to the police for the first time, and it is not a promise that every case will end in a conviction. It is about what happens once a case reaches prosecutors and a victim needs information, answers and proper communication from the part of the system taking the case forward. (cps.gov.uk)

The new offer sits inside the CPS Victim Transformation Programme, sometimes called the Victims Programme in CPS material. According to the CPS, inspections in 2018 and 2020 found repeated problems with victim communication, especially around speed, quality and empathy. The service then reviewed its approach and used research with victims to work out what needed to change. In plainer terms, the system heard a familiar complaint: people were getting letters late, getting formal language when they needed clear language, or hearing from the CPS too little and too coldly. The programme was built to fix that, by making contact more timely, more consistent and easier to understand. (cps.gov.uk)

One part of the change is the Universal Service, which applies to victims more widely. For the first time, all victims will be able to choose how the CPS contacts them, whether by telephone, email or post, and the Attorney General’s announcement says correspondence should also be faster and better in quality. **What this means:** choice of contact is not just about convenience. CPS research found that victims wanted more say over how they were contacted, and that a one-size-fits-all approach did not work well when people’s safety, privacy, disability or living situation were different. (gov.uk)

The other part is the Enhanced Service, which is aimed at victims with greater support needs. In this rollout, domestic abuse victims are being brought into that stronger offer nationwide, with a dedicated victim liaison officer available from charge to trial. The CPS already uses a similar model for victims of rape and serious sexual offences, where liaison officers act as a consistent point of contact and can answer questions about matters involving the CPS. That is the detail many readers will want to hold on to: instead of being passed from one anonymous inbox to another, a domestic abuse victim should now have a named route into the CPS during one of the most stressful parts of the case. (gov.uk)

In practice, a liaison officer is there to help victims understand what is happening in the prosecution process and what to expect next. CPS guidance already says victims should be given timely information about key decisions, and in domestic abuse cases it warns that quick contact can be vital where a decision could affect safety, such as bail conditions being lifted or a defendant being released from custody. There is another reason this matters. CPS guidance also says that sending a letter to a domestic abuse survivor may itself create a safeguarding risk, for example if the survivor lives with the defendant. So when ministers talk about giving victims more choice over phone, email or post, that is not a cosmetic update. In some cases, it is part of keeping communication safer. (cps.gov.uk)

It is worth being clear about what this does not change. A victim liaison officer is not the same thing as a personal lawyer, and the CPS does not represent individual victims in the way a solicitor might. The CPS prosecutes on behalf of the public, not on behalf of one person, and it still does not investigate crimes, make arrests, decide guilt or sentence offenders. That distinction can feel frustrating, especially in domestic abuse cases where victims often want both information and advocacy. But knowing who does what can make the system easier to read: the police investigate, the CPS prosecutes if the legal test is met, and the court decides the outcome. (cps.gov.uk)

The bigger test will be whether this feels different to victims in real life, not only on paper. Earlier CPS material acknowledged that many victims had little or no direct contact with prosecutors before trial, while a September 2026 CPS update said early evaluation findings were positive and suggested the pilot services were improving the service where they were live, though the CPS also described that evidence as early and said more feedback was still being gathered. So the promise here is simple enough for all of us to measure. If the rollout works, victims should spend less time guessing, less time repeating themselves and less time wondering whether anyone inside the justice system knows what is happening to them. If it does not, the title of the scheme will not matter very much at all. (cps.gov.uk)