Witness Care Unit

The local Witness Care Unit is managed through a collaborative partnership between the Crime Prosecution Service (CPS) and Leicestershire Constabulary.

The Witness Care Unit offers a single point of contact for victims and witnesses from arrest of the defendant through to sentence. Witness Care officers co-ordinate the support and services provided to the witness and keep them informed throughout the case.

A member of staff from Victim Support is also working with the CPS and Police Witness Liaison staff to assist victims and witnesses at an early stage.

The Witness Care Unit can deal with a range of problems or requests such as: arranging childcare for someone who is giving evidence at court, or helping witnesses with transport problems, language difficulties, disabilities, or discussing the needs of a witness who has been identified as vulnerable. This may entail visits to the court before the trial begins or to consider using the remote video suite.

The specialist witness care units were piloted in five areas around the country and an independent evaluation report revealed that since their launch, the witness attendance at court had improved by nearly 20 percent.

Further benefits from the pilots included:

• A 17 percent drop in ‘cracked' trials where the witness withdrew their statement or didn't attend. These cases would probably have failed on the day of the trial had the witnesses not turned up.
• A 10 percent increase in the number of ‘positive' cracked trials due to late guilty pleas. These cases were successful, the report says, because the witnesses did attend court, leading the defendant to plead guilty.
• Improved levels of witness satisfaction.
• A seven fold increase in the take up of victim personal statements, which give victims the opportunity to express how the crime has affected them.