Executive Summary
The Victims Code of Practice sets out the minimum rights, support, and information services the police and other criminal justice agencies must provide to victims of crime.
The National Policing Digital Strategy 2020-2030 and National Police Chief Council (NPCC) Contact Management Strategy highlights the need for modernised, technology driven engagement with the public. Outcomes from Victim Experience surveys and internal audits identify persistent challenges in providing timely updates to victims.
These national strategies, alongside the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, require forces to modernise how they engage with victims and to fully comply with VCOP requirements. The proposed Victim Journey and Victim Portal solution supports these requirements. It will ensure victims receive timely, accessible information and updates in line with VCOP, while reducing operational risk and inefficiency.
Victim Journey and Victim Portal Solution
Commercial companies have developed technology to provide messaging to victims using traditional marketing messages and the most commonly known is Salesforce and their Victim Journey solution. This includes proactive messaging to victims and also incorporates a portal to enable direct messaging from victims to the officer in charge of their investigation.
The NPCC, through its Digital Public Contact (DPC) programme has developed a National My Police Portal (NMPP) which is designed to transform how the public connects with their local force allowing them to access updates and communicate with their local force this replicates the commercial solution for portal and direct messaging. The technology supplied with Salesforce implementation required to enable the functionality of the NMPP portal.
Currently the force updates victims through labour-intensive methods (emails, personal attendance, and telephone calls), manually driven processes that rely heavily on officer capacity and victim-initiated contact.
While systems such as NICHE and STORM enable recording and management of investigations, they do not provide a consistent, victim-faced digital experience. Over the years the force has undertaken incremental improvements and workforce changes. However, without a dedicated victim journey solution or portal, these approaches remain inefficient, and officer-led.
Step Change in the Victim Journey
The implementation of the Victim Journey and National My Police Portal (NMPP) represents a step-change rather an incremental enhancement, enabling the force to deliver functions that have historically been completed manually, inconsistently, or reactively.
Approximately 10% of calls received every day in the Force Control Room (FCR) are from victims requesting updates to crimes. Victims’ satisfaction also reduces due to the lack of officer updates which often leads to dissatisfaction and complaints resulting in a lack of trust and confidence from victims.
There is a further 10% of calls received in the FCR from victims requesting updates to an arrival time by the attending officer.
The next step is for the force, with Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) oversight, to progress with the implementation of a Salesforce Victim Journey and NMPP Victim Portal solution, through a nationally supported procurement route.
This will involve:
- Onboarding Salesforce Victim Journey automation, and
- Implementing the National My Police Portal (NMPP) via the Single Online Home (SOH), using a parallel implementation model.
Expected Benefits
The force has considered a range of options and undertaken benchmarking with various forces across the country in relation to their implementation, benefits and lessons learned. Forces including Hampshire, Humberside, Sussex, Thames Valley, and Merseyside have implemented the Victim Journey and Victim Portal and are already seeing the following benefits:
- Reduction in 101 demand (10-15%)
- Significant reductions in follow-up calls (up to 61% for burglary and criminal damage)
- Improvement victim satisfaction (up to 50-90% in surveys)
The preferred option for the force is a parallel implementation of Salesforce Victim Portal and the National My Police Portal via Single Online Home, using the national frameworks and NPCC DPC support. This option has been selected for the following reasons:
- Aligns with national strategy and good practice
- Endorsed by the NPCC Digital Public Contact
- Consistent with the Single Online Home vision
- Is proven and low risk
- Already implemented successfully in multiple forces
- Demonstrable efficiency and satisfaction benefits
- Delivers benefits faster
- Parallel onboarding reduces delivery time
- Accelerates VCOP compliance and demand reduction
- Is cost-effective and sustainable
- Avoids bespoke development and ongoing maintenance risks
- Reduced licensing costs through SOH delivery
- Access to national support, learning and future enhancements
- Address force specific challenges
- High volume of updated-related requests via 101
- Inconsistent victim experience
- Workforce capacity pressures
The implementation will move the force from a historically manual officer dependant victim communication to a consistent, automated, and victim-centred digital service that will:
- Deliver timely updates at key attendance and investigation milestones
- Improves compliance with the Victims Code of Practice (VCOP)
- Reduces demand on the Force Control Room (FCR)
- Enables secure two-way communication between victims and officers for those victims eligible to opt-in. This will be in addition to traditional methods and not a replacement for existing lines of communication/officer interaction.
Decision 2026/27 – 002: Victim Journey and Victim Portal Service (application, 197kB)