Mayor’s Violence Reduction Unit secures funding boost to deliver key youth work interventions driving down violence
- Government invests £9.4m in violence prevention in London
- New funding to build on delivery of youth workers embedded in hospital and police custody
- Data shows 90 per cent of young people arrested did not reoffend and three-quarters reduced their risk of harm as a result of interventions by youth workers
- National investment to work alongside Sadiq’s record funding for prevention and early intervention work
The Mayor of London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) has secured £9.4 million investment from the Home Office to build on youth work intervention programmes that are working to drive down violence in the capital.
New funding will enable London’s VRU to deliver key violence prevention work, which includes embedding teams of skilled and experienced youth workers in hospitals and in police custody, to offer support, guidance and a route away from violence for young people.
Youth workers will continue delivering diversionary work from eight A&E hospitals and four Major Trauma Centres. Delivered by St Giles Trust, Catch22/Redthread and Oasis, hospital locations are determined by the levels of young victims of violence in the surrounding area.
It builds on a programme which has supported more than 3,100 young people since 2022, and contributed to significant reductions in young people deemed high risk to others or to further violence. After engaging with a youth worker, 77 per cent reduced their risk of harm from others and 73 per cent felt safer post intervention.
Government investment in the VRU, which was set up by the Mayor in 2019 and the first in England and Wales, will also fund youth workers embedded in police custody suites across London. The Divert and Engage programmes, which involves youth workers embedded in police custody, are reaching 10,000 young people at a point of crisis with two-thirds achieving positive outcomes in reintegration into education, training or employment.
For those up to 18, nearly 90 per cent arrested for violent offences did not reoffend over the next 12 months following engagement with a youth worker.
Youth workers based in hospital and in police custody provide an opportunity to intervene in a young person’s life much earlier. Known as the ‘reachable, teachable moment’ skilled youth workers engage with young people when they arrive at hospital with injuries or after having been arrested – the time when they are most receptive to changing their behaviour.
Clinical leads in hospitals across the capital have worked in partnership to provide opportunities for youth workers to speak confidentially to young people, giving them the support and guidance they need.
National funding will also be used for diversionary activities through sport and works alongside the Mayor’s record investment in prevention and early intervention, which is working to tackle school exclusions, mentoring and a commitment to fund a further 250,000 positive opportunities for young people.
The Mayor, the Director of the VRU, Lib Peck, and the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Kaya Comer-Schwartz, were today joined by Diana Johnson MP, the Crime and Policing Minister, at a visit to the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. It’s one of 12 hospitals delivering the youth work intervention programme. Since 2022, St Giles Trust youth workers have supported 550 young people who had been involved in violence, including knife injury, gunshots, or self-harm. Last year, interventions by youth workers resulted in 85 per cent of young people they engaged with no longer involved in gang activity, and led to an 83 per cent reduction in their risk of harm and involvement in violence.
Policing Minister, Dame Diana Johnson said: "Tackling violence and making our streets safer is at the heart of this government’s Plan for Change. We have already banned zombie-style knives, are fast progressing our ban on Ninja swords and are strengthening age-verification checks for buying knives online.
"But we cannot do this alone. One of the first things the Prime Minister did was launch the Coalition to tackle knife crime, which brings together different communities and voices to ensure our work will actually make a difference to young people.
“I am grateful to the London VRU and the Mayor of London for the vital work they already do, supporting vulnerable young lives in exceptionally difficult and complex circumstances, and today we have committed to a £9.4 million investment to ensure this continues."
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I am committed to tackling violence and building a safer London for everyone by being tough on crime and tough on its complex causes.
“Alongside record investment in policing, I set up and fund the Violence Reduction Unit as part of my commitment to prevention and investing in young Londoners.
“I welcome the Government’s investment and support so that we can continue delivering targeted interventions that we know are working to divert young people away from violence and towards opportunity.”
Lib Peck, Director of London’s Violence Reduction Unit, said: “We firmly believe that violence is preventable, not inevitable. But key to this is approach is the role that youth workers play in changing the lives of young people every day in London.
“Evidence now firmly shows that embedding youth workers in hospitals and custody suites has impact in cutting reoffending rates and offering young people a route away from violence.
“We are really pleased to secure the funding and backing we need to continue supporting the life-changing impact that youth workers have on young people to keep them save and able to thrive in our great city.”
Tracey Burley, Chief Executive of St Giles, said: “Collaborating with staff at The Royal London Hospital and Barts NHS Trust has been transformative. By integrating our lived experience approach to tackle violence, we seize a critical opportunity during hospital stays to positively impact young lives.
“We are deeply thankful to the London VRU, Royal London Hospital and Barts NHS Trust for partnering with us and sharing our belief in the power of first-hand experience to drive meaningful change to young people’s lives and wider communities.”
Notes to editors
Notes to editors:
London’s Violence Reduction Unit
The Mayor set-up and funds London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) to pioneer a partnership approach to tackling violence that is rooted in prevention and early intervention.
Since the VRU was established in 2019, it has invested in more than 400,000 interventions, diversionary activities and positive opportunities for young people.
Compared to when it was set up, there has been a 31 per cent reduction in homicides, a 26 per cent reduction in knife crime with injury where victims were aged under 25, and a 12 per cent reduction in personal robbery.
Whilst we have always been clear that one death is one too many, figures show that in 2024, London recorded reductions in homicides of young people under-25 and teenagers.
The number of teenage homicides in London last year (12) was at its lowest total since 2012. The number of homicides of under-25s was 30, down from 48 the previous year, and lowest in 22 years since 2003.
The VRU’s investment is focused and targeted, ensuring interventions are joined up and follow a young person's journey and the key relationships they hold.
The Home Office has allocated £9.4m funding to London’s Violence Reduction Unit for 2025/2026.
This means the VRU will continue to use funding to deliver key intervention programmes using the Home Office grant, which includes:
Hospital-based youth work: Funding the delivery of youth work through Catch22/Redthread, St Giles Trust and Oasis in eight A&E departments and four Major Trauma Centres across London. The A&E locations are:
- Newham General Hospital in Plaistow
- The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich
- Croydon University Hospital
- University Hospital Lewisham
- Whittington Hospital, covering Islington and Haringey
- North Middlesex Hospital
- St Thomas’ Hospital
- Homerton University Hospital
- Youth workers are also based in four Major Trauma Centres:
- Kings College
- St George’s
- St Marys
- The Royal London hospital
Custody-based youth work: Funding the delivery of youth workers embedded in police custody in all 12 of the Met’s Basic Command Units. This funding will support two programmes – Engage which works with those aged 10-17 and Divert which supports 18-25 year-olds.
Sports – Continue the delivery of a programme of interventions of sport, particularly around weekend and holiday provision in areas typically underserved.
Wider work led by the VRU, includes:
- Supporting families affected by violence. It has established parent and carer networks for more than 20,000 parents and carers London-wide, while 1,300 parents have being trained as ‘parent carer champions’ to work with and deliver support to peers. This has resulted in 100% of parents reporting positive attitude and behaviour changes and improvements in mental health.
- Establishing London’s first-ever Inclusion Charter to tackle rising suspensions, exclusions and persistent absenteeism. This has been supported by nearly all London boroughs, 22 national charities including Barnardo’s, Mission44, and The Children’s Society. The VRU’s £1.4m investment in UNICEF means nearly 600 schools are delivering inclusive practices that are supporting more than 100,000 young Londoners.
- Expanding a programme of mentors in pupil referral units across every London borough that has led to 82 per cent of schools reporting increased attendance and 86 per cent reporting reduced behavioural incidents.
- Tackling misogyny in schools by funding work that has resulted in 15,200 children and young people taking part in arts and drama-based healthy relationships sessions. It has led to 90 per cent of pupils having a better understanding of healthy relationships and 80 per cent now able to spot red flags in a friendship or relationship.
- Youth workers embedded in police custody reaching 10,000 young people at a point of crisis with two-thirds achieving positive outcomes in reintegration into education, training or employment. For those up to 18, we’ve seen nearly 90 per cent of young people arrested for violent offences prevented from reoffending over the next 12 months following engagement with a youth worker.
- Youth workers embedded in hospitals that has led to significant reductions in young people deemed high risk to others or to further violence. We’ve seen 72 per cent reduce their risk of harm from others following the intervention and 78 per cent feeling safer post intervention.
- The VRU has also pioneered a community-led approach to tackling violence through its award-winning MyEnds programme. It has supported more than 50,000 young people and community members through nearly 48,000 targeted interventions and opportunities. This has contributed to tackling risk factors associated with violence and exploitation, including improved mental health and wellbeing of young people, better engagement with support services and improved behaviour and engagement in education.
- This term, Sadiq is committed to fund more youth clubs and a further 250,000 opportunities for young people.