A number of gaps in current service provision were identified

All practitioners felt there were significant gaps in services for older people. Whilst all of the practitioners stated they were able to tailor their own support services to the needs of the individual, on a broader level they felt a number of gaps existed and these created the barriers and challenges described in the findings. The biggest gap identified by practitioners was the overall lack of awareness among older groups that sexual violence services can offer support to victims of all ages and the types of services they offer. All practitioners felt the responsibility for this lack of awareness was multi- faceted. An overall societal ignorance and reluctance to accept that sexual violence can be perpetrated by, and against, older people means that many older people may feel sexual violence is

a young person’s problem. However, practitioners also felt they were at least partly responsible for the lack of awareness:

‘The gap is us – women knowing where they can access emotional support. Maybe a generation thing, assuming they don’t want to talk about it or them not wanting to talk about it.’ (Practitioner J)

None of the age-related practitioners that were interviewed offered any specific support services for older survivors of sexual violence and none had established relationships with existing sexual violence organisations, so there were no referral pathways in existence at the time of interview.

This is compounded by a lack of campaigns by sexual violence organisations, the criminal justice system and government. Previous and existing campaigns, particularly police campaigns, have largely focused on issues relating to younger age groups - for example alcohol and rape, particularly in relation to the night time economy and sexual violence at university, and are placed in locations relevant to young people - such as toilet doors in nightclubs or universities. These campaigns typically feature younger models and often focus on sexual violence in the context of the night-time economy. As one practitioner explained:

‘Not from us but on a more general level, campaigns and awareness raising could be targeted at the older generation. In my head I think a line has been drawn where older people are concerned and it is more about focusing on the youth.’ (Practitioner M)

Practitioners felt this lack of awareness was largely down to ageist stereotypes of older people and ‘real rape’ myths. As Vierthaler (2008) argues, rape myths have left elders out of the image of victims of sexual violence and without an appropriate community response when they are victimised. Thus, while elder sexual assault victims may require more assistance and specialised help due to age- related disabilities and other factors, they often receive fewer services and interventions than younger victims (Vierthaler, 2008, p.307). All practitioners felt they could help address this gap and challenge some of the dominant rape myths around rape involving only young attractive women being attacked by male strangers by running some of their own campaigns and advertising materials which include images of older male and female victims. They also felt they could help to raise awareness by placing materials in locations older people may be more likely to see them, as a lot of the current focus on marketing material was aimed at younger people and typically placed in places young women would see it, for example toilet doors in pubs, bars and university buildings.

Another area where all practitioners felt there was an obvious gap they could help address was the lack of multi-agency partnerships between national and local age-related organisations, such as Age UK, and Rape Crisis centres, SARCs, and domestic violence organisations:

‘I think gaps are probably a lack of information into services that actually support older people - we are not targeting them enough and getting where we should. As an organisation we should be going to AGE UK so women know we are here, they can get support. Raise awareness. We are great at doing it for younger people but I think we need to make sure women who are older can access services.’ (Practitioner K)

‘You got me thinking about Age Concern just around the corner, it should be easy for them to signpost to us but perhaps we need to go offer our services to them. We do offer outreach at university and GP services. But I wonder whether if we consider elderly people. We need to get that info out there, like an advocate would find that out. We could offer to go into community centre and counsel people if they had a room available.’ (Practitioner D)

Some practitioners mentioned the gap in relation to services for specific groups of older survivors, in particular male survivors and survivors from black or minority ethnic groups:

‘A large chunk of my time has been spent with black and minority ethnic women and I don’t think I saw a single BME women aged 60+ come forward. [It’s] different with BME because of cultural issues, at risk of further victimisation if were to report.’ (Practitioner B)

This was echoed by other practitioners:

‘Out of all these years only two Muslim people have contacted me. All the older clients have been white and heterosexual. We need to start bringing barriers down. I don’t think it will resolve itself. There are deep rooted cultural barriers. When I worked with sex offenders in Bradford, officers said they just wouldn’t ever come forward and report. They cannot.’ (Practitioner C)

Al practitioners also stressed the need for more research examining the prevalence of sexual violence against older people and the impacts of sexual violence in later life.