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London’s mayor has axed a cyber crime helpline for the victims of online abuse, triggering a backlash from campaigners who argue that women and girls will be left struggling to access vital support.
The service, which was shut down on Tuesday, assisted victims of fraud, revenge porn and cyberstalking to protect their digital identity. During its 18-months of operation it led to 2,060 cases being opened.
The helpline was launched in 2023 as a one-year pilot scheme with £170,000 in funding from the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (Mopac), and was later extended by six months.
Conservative London Assembly member Emma Best said an informal evaluation showed the helpline “was working” and was going to be extended for another year.
However, Sadiq Khan said that the scheme would be closed. “It was a pilot and pilots are what they say on the tin . . . we will receive an end of project report, we have collected the data and the results of that report will inform our future work,” he said, speaking at Mayor’s Question Time.
Best said the service would cost £85,000 to fund for another six months, adding “this is a sum of money that is a rounding error in a £21bn budget”.
The helpline is a bespoke London service that is part of the Cyber Helpline, a national charity.
The service had an investigative arm that led to the reopening of closed cases and had been used by Metropolitan Police officers every day, she added. The service supported 80,000 Londoners during its period of operation.
“The majority of the funding was for cyber stalking and online harassment support. In this area, at least 75 per cent of the users are women and girls,” said Rory Innes, chief executive and founder of the Cyber Helpline.
Mopac said its work with the cyber helpline “was always intended to be a pilot scheme”.
“Its findings will help inform our extensive ongoing work to support victims of crime in London,” it added.
The decision comes after the Ministry of Justice reduced the national victim support budget by 4.2 per cent for 2025, despite Labour’s manifesto pledge to halve violence against women and girls.
Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said: “Cuts to funding for specialist victim support services are having a devastating impact across the country, with many forced to reduce or shut down their services.
“Without access to these services, survivors often face a David and Goliath battle to access their rights.”
The London Assembly heard earlier this year that violence against women and girls was “endemic” in the capital and reported sexual offences had increased by 7.4 per cent in 2024 compared with 2023, according to police data.
Incidents of cyber crime make up almost half of crime against individuals, the Crime Survey for England and Wales estimated.
