Police Forces Across the Country Lack Consistency in Supporting Victims with Limited English Proficiency
London, UK – A recent study conducted through Freedom of Information requests by the Law Centres Network and Harrow Law Centre has revealed a patchy approach to supporting victims whose first language is not English. This is in spite of the UK government’s Victims Code’s first right, which states that victims have the right “to be able to understand and to be understood.”
To address this issue and improve support for all victims, the two charities have launched a new report that recommends improvements to five key aspects of police conduct. Although the report covers an earlier period, its findings and recommendations remain relevant in light of recent incidents of disorder and attacks on migrants and groups who support them.
The project, which is dedicated to understanding and supporting victims of crime with language needs, was initiated by an increase in local hate crime and Harrow Law Centre’s response to it. The violence was targeted towards individuals who were born abroad – a majority in the London borough – and have English as an additional language. These victims have faced challenges in accessing support, reporting the crime, and receiving follow-up assistance.
The Freedom of Information requests aimed to understand how police forces in the UK deal with victims who have limited English proficiency. Specifically, the requests asked who is responsible for assessing a victim’s English proficiency, whether officers are trained for this task, whether there are any guidelines or tools for making consistent judgements, how often interpretation services are used for victims with English support needs, and the quality of these services.
The research project found the following:
– About one-third of the forces approached did not consider a victim’s limited or no English proficiency as a vulnerability, despite the fact that this could significantly impact their support throughout the criminal justice system.
– Ten police forces explained that the classification of a victim as vulnerable is based on individual officers’ impressions. Varying training materials and record-keeping conventions have led to an inconsistent approach among officers.
– There were difficulties in obtaining responses from police forces to the FOI requests, with only one in seven forces providing complete answers. Nearly half (22) initially declined to answer, and when sent refined questions to address their grounds for decline, only 12 provided partial responses.
Based on these findings, the report makes the following recommendations:
– Improve data recording to capture victims’ language needs, including recording the complainants’ first language in all crime reports, officers’ comments on relevant language issues, and any communication assistance measures used during the case.
– Enhance the accuracy of victims’ testimonies by relying on accredited interpreters, such as those on the Police Approved Interpreters and Translators Scheme (PAIT), and avoid using volunteer interpreters, such as police officers with relevant language skills.
– Adopt a consistent approach to training police officers to identify language and communication barriers. These training sessions should be mandatory and identical across all police forces.
– Strengthen accountability by routinely publishing language needs data through official police statistics and including it in regional and national accounts of victim support services.
The Victims Code was recently written into law in the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, but practical progress has stalled. Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips MP has acknowledged that victims’ trust in the criminal justice system has been “broken.” Baroness Newlove, the victims commissioner for England and Wales, has expressed concern that these challenges affect victims’ reporting behavior. This report’s findings are another reflection of the current problems and offer simple and practical steps for improving support, accountability, and trust.
Julie Bishop, director of the Law Centres Network, stated, “Police forces are leaving it to individual officers to assess victims’ English language support needs without consistent training, guidance, or monitoring. We are expected to take it on trust that this works, without the ability to verify it. Victims – and the rule of law – deserve better, and our report, alongside these findings, offers a benchmark for improvement.”
Contact:
For any inquiries, please contact Matt Cary at Law Centres Network: matt@lawcentres.org.uk or +44 7387 325 615.
Notes to Editors:
The full report, “‘To be Understood’: Are the police doing enough to help victims with low proficiency in English report crime?” can be found at https://lawcentres.org.uk/news.
The Law Centres Network is the national membership body for Law Centres. A Law Centre is a charity that provides legal assistance to disadvantaged individuals with legal problems arising from their disadvantage, such as in housing, benefits, discrimination, and immigration. The first Law Centre was established in 1970, and there are currently 42 Law Centres. For more information, visit https://lawcentres.org.uk.
Harrow Law Centre is a local legal assistance charity based in the North West London borough of Harrow. It has been serving the local community for 12 years and is a member of the Law Centres Network
