Who Rape Crisis Scotland is#
Rape Crisis Scotland is the national organisation working to end sexual violence in Scotland. The first Scottish centres opened in Glasgow in 1976 and Edinburgh in 1978; the national network was formalised in the 1990s, the helpline followed in 2007 and a national advocacy project in 2016. It now links 13 independent member centres, which together support more than 6,000 survivors a year, and it helped set up the Scottish Women's Rights Centre, which gives free legal information and advocacy to women. The Scottish Government funds both the national body and the local centres.
The helpline and local centres#
The helpline is open every day from 5pm to midnight by phone, text, email and webchat on its website, for people of all genders living in Scotland aged 13 or over, and for family, friends and professionals. It cannot support anyone accused of sexual violence. The helpline is staffed by women, interpreters are free, and Deaf callers can use Contact Scotland's BSL service.
Its confidentiality policy explains what each route shows: your number is not visible on calls, a text shows no number to the helpline but will appear on an itemised bill, email addresses can be seen, and webchat shows no name or address. Written replies are signed with a shared pen name. If a child is at risk, it must pass information on.
For ongoing support, search for your local centre by postcode and contact it directly. Most have waiting lists, and some areas are covered by outreach. Pressing Escape on any page of the site leaves it at once.
Support through the justice process#
The National Advocacy Service has Rape Crisis advocacy workers across Scotland who can help before you give a statement and stay with you to the end of a case: keeping you updated, explaining special measures and preparing you for court. The charity's resources include guides on your rights as a complainer in a sexual offence trial and on access to your sensitive records. Its answers to common questions point anyone who feels unsafe to protective orders, such as non-harassment orders and exclusion orders.
Anonymity, and whether a new name is needed#
Rape Crisis Scotland publishes nothing on changing a name. It has campaigned on something close to it: anonymity. Its briefing on the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform Bill said protection for survivors in Scotland largely relied on convention and press codes. The bill became the 2025 Act, and section 104 bars any publication likely to identify a victim of a listed offence, including their name, address, school or workplace, for life. legislation.gov.uk lists section 104 as prospective on 26 October 2026, and none of the three commencement regulations so far brings it in.
Until it starts, anonymity in the Scottish media still depends largely on convention, as the charity describes it. Whether a new name would add to your safety is a question for your advocacy worker, especially while a case is running. If you decide to change it, Scotland has its own routes, and one of them puts the change on a public register: the handbook's Scotland guide weighs them up, and a separate page covers the records that link two names.
This page describes what Rape Crisis Scotland publishes on its own website, read on 26 October 2026, alongside the Act on legislation.gov.uk. Rape Crisis Scotland has not reviewed it, and listing a charity here does not mean it recommends this handbook or any deed poll service.
