Expanding the National Rape Crisis Helpline to enable provision of a specialist support service to women who have survived sexual violence for 15 hours a day.

The National Rape Crisis Helpline Number does not show on telephone bills and is free to users of Vodaphone, 02, Orange and other mobiles. It is a vital life line for many women and girls but is only open for limited hours (5 hours a day) because of lack of funding. Currently, we are only able to answer a quarter of all calls to the Helpline. This means there are thousands of women and girls who we cannot help but really need the practical and emotional support we offer.

Expanding the opening hours of the helpline would increase its accessibility and allow all survivors of sexual violence to be able to receive specialist support at a time when they are in crisis.