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Our statement on the Edinburgh Rape Crisis National Service Standards Report

The independent review of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre (ERCC) has presented challenging findings, and recommendations for improvements to the organisation, its operations, and how it provides services. It also makes important recommendations for Rape Crisis Scotland (RCS), which we accept and will act on.

We are extremely concerned that for around 16 months ERCC did not provide dedicated women only spaces, as required by the National Service Standards, while declaring to RCS that they were adhering to the standards. This is a significant breach. We have asked ERCC to produce an action plan, with clear timescales, to implement the review’s recommendations. We have also requested that ERCC conducts an urgent review of its data protection and safeguarding policies and procedures, and they have confirmed that this work is underway. In the meantime, we have paused referrals to ERCC. Our helpline workers can discuss alternative support arrangements with survivors in Edinburgh at this time.

The needs of survivors should be listened to and respected when they come to any Rape Crisis Centre. It is important that survivors can make informed choices about the services they access at Rape Crisis Centres, and we recognise that for some survivors this includes the choice of a single sex service. We are working with our member Rape Crisis Centres across Scotland to consider what more we need to do to ensure survivors can make informed choices about the support they receive from Rape Crisis Centres, to ensure they are able to access the services they need.

All member Rape Crisis Centres are signed up to working within National Service Standards which operate across Scotland, and England and Wales. These standards detail the high quality of service every survivor should expect to receive from a Rape Crisis Centre. Membership of Rape Crisis Scotland is based upon a shared commitment to, and evidencing of, the Rape Crisis National Service Standards. Over the next year, we will go through a process of assessment with our member centres to support them to evidence that the National Service Standards are being met across Scotland.