Victims of serious and sexual crimes to receive improved guidance and support in the Service Justice System
Military personnel and civilians who experience sexual assault, domestic abuse or stalking at the hands of serving members of the Armed Forces will receive stronger protections under the new Armed Forces Bill.
The Bill, which is being debated in Parliament today for its Second Reading, introduces a suite of measures to protect victims of serious and sexual offences within the Service Justice System. These include:
The Minister for Veterans and People, Louise Sandher-Jones MP, said:
The new measures build on Defence’s efforts to ensure the Service Justice System champion a victim-centred approach.
This includes a pioneering prevention programme introduced by the Government in November 2025 to tackle the issue of unacceptable sexual behaviour and harassment in our Armed Forces. New prevention teams will operate from military sites in North Yorkshire and Plymouth, delivering training interventions to tackle the cultural and behavioural root causes of unacceptable sexual behaviour.
The measure supports the Government’s mission to halve Violence Against Women and Girls within a decade, while recognising that abuse can happen to anyone regardless of gender.
It also follows the creation of the Victim Witness Care Unit (VCWU) in 2023, which provides independent, trauma-informed, end to end support to victims and witnesses of serious crime, ensuring they receive the care and assistance they deserve.
In the Service Justice System, adult rape-flagged investigations are dealt with in quicker time, as highlighted in figures from 2024. That year, investigations in the civilian system took 338 days, with 59% of victims withdrawing, but 148 days in the Service Justice System with 24% of victims withdrawing.
The conviction rate in the Court Martial for these cases (excluding guilty pleas), is 51% from 2022 to 2024 compared to 36% in the Crown Court.
These data points – in combination with the strengthened measures introduced through the Bill – demonstrate that the Service Justice System delivers swifter justice for victims, helping more cases to reach quicker conclusion and ensuring victims’ confidence that this is a system that will support and protect them.
These measures sit alongside wider Armed Forces Bill provisions including the creation of a new Defence Housing Service and extending the Armed Forces Covenant across all areas of government. There are also new powers to deter, detect and defeat drone incursions over military sites.