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The Mayor of London's Annual Report 2024-25

Key information

Publication type: General

Publication date:

Introduction

This is the 2024-25 Mayor’s Annual Report, covering 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. 

The report is structured under these themes: 

  • working in partnership to address London’s complex, cross-cutting challenges
  • economic development
  • skills and employment
  • culture, creative industries and 24-hour London
  • policing and crime
  • fire and resilience
  • environment
  • housing and land
  • planning and regeneration
  • the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC)
  • the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC)
  • civil society and sport
  • health, children and young Londoners
  • communities and social policy
  • transport, air quality, connectivity and infrastructure.

This report constitutes the statutory progress update against the Mayor’s seven statutory strategies, required under the GLA Act 1999 (section 46). It is designed as a short report, summarising the Mayor's major achievements, including (but not limited to) the above areas.

There are more details on the Mayor’s strategies on our strategies and plans pages.

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Find out more about the Mayor's activity online on our:

Working in partnership to address London's complex, cross-cutting challenges

  • Following the 2024 General Election, and with a new government in place, the Mayor has been working closely with national government to support Londoners and ensure growth. The Mayor has met with Cabinet Ministers on many occasions since July 2024, and with the Prime Minister. 
  • By working in partnership with the new government, the Mayor has secured an almost doubling of annual capital funding for TfL; and the proposed designation of Oxford Street as a Mayoral Development Area (MDA) and subsequent Mayoral Development Corporation (MDC).  He will trial five of the Get Britain Working Trailblazers, ensuring that Londoners are empowered to contribute to the economy and achieve sustainable, meaningful employment.  
  • The Mayor, alongside the Chair of London Councils, has committed to establishing missions for London. This is to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the national government’s five national missions. 
  • The London Partnership Board agreed that London’s missions will focus on:
    • housing delivery
    • growth
    • health 
    • safety
    • opportunities
    • energy.
  • The first meetings of the Growth, Housing and Health Mission Boards are planned to occur by July 2025. These will bring together partners from across the capital to address some of the biggest challenges impacting London.
  • The London Partnership Board has demonstrated the importance of partnerships in ensuring a collaborative way of addressing challenges. Over the past year the Board has:
    • contributed to the development of missions – offering advice and insights to ensure missions can help London’s key challenges
    • provided expert advice on the London Growth Plan to define the action needed across the London system to drive economic growth in the capital
    • built on strong existing relationships between the GLA and London Councils – including providing joint evidence to national government on the learnings from London’s approach to missions.
  • Through the London Anchor Institutions’ Network (LAIN), spearheaded by the Mayor, some of London’s biggest organisations are using their procurement, workforce and estate-management capacity to:
    • get more Londoners from underrepresented backgrounds into good work
    • help small, diverse-owned businesses grow, by entering their supply chains
    • take action to tackle the climate emergency, by decarbonising estates; implementing climate-adaptation projects; and upskilling staff in climate literacy. 
  • Since 2021, LAIN members have awarded over £2.7bn worth of contracts to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and diverse-owned businesses. They supported over 4,000 apprentices in 2024-25, and transferred £2.8m of apprenticeship levy to SMEs to fund apprenticeship training. They have also trained more than 9,000 members of staff in carbon literacy. 

Economic development

The London Growth Plan 

  • The Mayor launched the London Growth Plan with London Councils, aiming to grow London’s economy by £100bn and put £11,000 a year in the pocket of every Londoner by 2035.

London & Partners

  • London & Partners – the Mayor’s London business growth and destination agency – has delivered £677m in gross value added to London’s economy through increased trade, investment and business tourism. Its work attracting major events to the capital also supports London-based business growth. 
  • Grow London Local provides a small business support service, with a ‘single front door’ to access the right support, in the right way, at the right time. Grow London Local has reached 277,000 entrepreneurs and supported over 20,000 businesses – with 88 per cent of those helped coming from communities that face additional barriers, including Black and minority ethnic groups, women and people with disabilities.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund

  • The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) (a £144m investment for 2022-25) committed to support local businesses, communities, places, people and skills, via scores of projects – delivering benefits London-wide. Over 19,000 businesses have been supported; over 14,000 people engaged and supported; and over 94,000m2 of public space improved.

Good Work Standard

  • Over 310,000 people now work for one of the Mayor’s 170 Good Work Standard-accredited employers, all paying the London Living Wage. These employers have committed to the best equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) standards. In consultation with employers, trade unions, expert employment policy organisations and workers, the Standard was refreshed and updated this year to align with the government’s New Deal for Working People, and latest best practice.

London Living Wage

  • Over 4,000 employers that have London headquarters are now accredited with the Living Wage Foundation, a sixfold increase since 2016. Over 158,000 Londoners received a pay rise due to annual increases in the London Living Wage – currently £13.85 per hour. The Mayor co-chairs the Making London a Living Wage City campaign steering group, focusing activity to increase Living Wage uptake in low-pay sectors such as hospitality; services; health and social care; and night-time work. The programme achieved initial ambitions ahead of schedule, with over 1,500 new employers becoming accredited since launching in September 2021. The GLA has also become a Living Hours employer, leading by example to address insecure work and exploitative contracts.

Skills and employment

Note: some of our performance data is aligned to academic years, which cross two financial years. This is due to the period of delivery we receive funds for and report on to central government departments.

The GLA delivered transformative outcomes across a broad portfolio of adult education and employment programmes. This has helped thousands of Londoners gain new skills, access better opportunities, and move closer to work or further learning.

Adult Education Budget (Adults Skills Fund) learner participation

  • From August 2023 to July 2024, there were 223,820 GLA-funded learners in London. 
  • Around 168,700 Londoners participated in Adult Skills, and 68,550 in Community Learning. 

Record-breaking learner participation in London’s Adult Skills programmes

Between August 2023 and July 2024, over 223,000 Londoners accessed life-changing learning through Mayoral-funded Adult Skills programmes. This demonstrates the growing demand for skills in the capital.

Participant demographics

The Mayor’s adult skills programmes are empowering London’s diverse communities, meeting Londoners where they are and supporting the most disadvantaged. Amongst learners participating in the programme:

  • 69 per cent were female
  • 61 per cent were from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background (including Mixed, Asian, Black and Other Ethnic Group learners 
  • the majority were aged 24-49 (61 per cent)
  • 15 per cent consider themselves to have a learning difficulty and/or disability and/or health problem
  • 48 per cent of participants in Adult Skills learning were eligible for the disadvantage uplift funding
  • 7 per cent of the total number of learners received learner support to enrol in 48,980 courses. 

Enrolments and qualifications achievements (as of 31 July 2024)

The programme is high-volume, high-achievement: there were 487,000 enrolments, with strong outcomes and high learner commitment.

  • During the publication period, across London there were 359,710 learners enrolled in Adult Skills programmes; and 127,990 in Community Learning.
  • By 31 July 2024, around 88 per cent of the qualifications were achieved (429,060).

 The Mayor’s interventions in skills are tackling in-work poverty and supporting unemployed people. There are 24,960 learners in low-paid work who are accessing provision; and 18,200 learners who are out of work, and outside benefit arrangements, taking part in skills courses. 

  • There were 24,960 learners, supported by the low-wage flexibility, that participated in the Adult Skills’ stream of the Adult Education Budget (AEB) programme. 
  • Around 18,200 learners who are out of work, and outside benefit arrangements (including asylum seekers), participated in the programme – achieving a total of 39,110 AEB qualifications. 

Other skills and employment programmes

Bootcamps

In the largest funding wave so far (Wave 5), the £21.6m grant from the Department for Education (DfE) was used to fund over 100 different Skills Bootcamps in London, across 11 priority sectors. 

  • Over 5,000 Londoners have participated in a Skills Bootcamp in 2024-25. They have received in-demand skills training that has been co-designed with employers – helping to meet London’s future workforce needs.
  • The success of the Skills Bootcamps programme in Wave 5 (2024-25) has helped the GLA secure an increased grant from the DfE of £27.028m for Wave 6 (25-26).

Multiply programme 

  • Over 60,000 courses were taken by over 40,000 learners, across all 33 London local authorities.
  • 1m people were reached through our marketing and communications. In addition, 34 community organisations were funded through the Community Outreach Programme; and 995 learners with numeracy barriers were referred into Multiply provision.

Skills Capital programme

  • Over 6,000 sqm of new or improved educational floorspace were completed in 2024-25.
  • Over 10,000 learners were supported to access new or improved educational facilities in 2024-25.
  • 24 projects funding industry-standard equipment and premises upgrades commenced in 2024-25.

UKSPF

In 2024-25, £38.1m was invested in the UKSPF People and Skills investment priority, aiming to help reduce the barriers some Londoners face to employment; and support them to move towards employment and education.

UKSPF achievements 
Support for young Londoners who are not in education, employment or training (NEET)

Across the 24 projects funded under the Mayor’s pan-London Universal NEET and Targeted NEET programmes, the following key outcomes were achieved:

  • over 6,500 young Londoners have been supported 
  • 65 per cent reported increased employability after interpersonal skills support
  • over 3,200 entered education, employment or training.
Support for unemployed and economically inactive adults

London’s four sub-regional partnerships, working directly with their borough partners, delivered a range of local employment and skills programmes for unemployed and economically inactive Londoners – particularly those facing additional barriers to employment. 

  • Almost 10,000 people have been supported by the borough-led projects.
  • Approximately 20 per cent entered employment following support. 
Work experience for young Londoners

The Mayor’s Support for young Londoners Work Experience programme worked with schools, colleges and employers to provide quality work experience opportunities to young people at risk of becoming NEET. This aimed to help them to prepare for future careers. 

  • 2,800 young people were engaged on the programme.
  • 1,182 completed at least 10 hours of work experience – of these, over 1,000 completed more than 25 hours’ work experience. 

Mayor’s Careers programme

Working across 700 schools and colleges, the Mayor’s Careers Hubs improved access to high-quality, employer-led careers education – equipping young Londoners with the knowledge and confidence to thrive in a competitive labour market.

Culture, creative industries and 24-hour London

Culture and creative industries

  • Every year, culture contributes £63.3bn in GVA to London’s economy – up 25 per cent from 2020. It also accounts for a fifth of the capital’s jobs. Backing the creative industries is a key part of the Mayor’s London Growth Plan.

Boosting the creative economy 

  • The £10m Creative Economy Growth programme will deliver over £3.5bn in inward investment over the next four years across film, TV, games, animation, visual effects, fashion and design. Since 2016 this programme has supported the British Fashion Council, Film London, Games London and the London Design Festival. It has helped to secure over £7.5bn in sales, trade and investment.
  • This year, the Mayor’s funding of Film London (the capital’s screen industries agency) has helped to attract £1.47bn in inward investment across, film, TV and animation. It has generated 13,803 job opportunities, and supported 87 productions. 
  • The British Fashion Council promotes and supports the British fashion industry, both in the UK and internationally. Funding from the Mayor helped to deliver two London Fashion Weeks, achieving sales of more than £24m. 
  • Games London was established to support, grow and promote the video games industry in London and the UK. Funding from the Mayor helped to deliver the London Games Festival, which saw a record attendance this year. The event generated £4.3m in GVA, and an additional £3.1m in revenue. Games London facilitated £12m in completed deals through the festival. 
  • London Design Festival is an annual event that celebrates and promotes London as a global design capital. September’s festival took place in 11 design districts across the city. A new study shows that the festival has contributed £120m and 751 jobs to the London economy during 2024. 

Supporting Creatives 

  • The Mayor’s Creative Enterprise Zones are designated areas of London where artists and creative businesses: can find permanent affordable space to work, and are supported to start up and grow. They are also where local people learn creative-sector skills, and access pathways to employment. The zones have now leveraged £30m in partnership funding, and are achieving their aim of helping creative businesses put down roots across the capital. The Creative Enterprise Zones are on target to deliver 70,000sqm of affordable creative space by 2026. 
  • In December, the London Made Me retail development programme returned for a third year. The London Made Me shop in Battersea Power Station featured products from 12 creatives across the Creative Enterprise Zones. Total sales exceeded £46,000 over four weeks. 
  • The Mayor’s Culture and Community Spaces at Risk programme is designed to protect and support cultural and community spaces at risk of closure. It has now provided tailored support to over 1,500 creative businesses and organisations at risk of closure since March 2020. Eighty per cent of supported organisations were led by underrepresented groups. This model has now been adopted by the Mayor of New York. 
  • Over 13,000 Londoners visited Black On the Square in September, the Mayor’s free annual event which showcases and champions London’s Black creatives. This second year was delivered with creative support from fynn studio, a community-focused curation collective. The event featured performances from Bashy and CULTUR FM; and films and documentaries curated by We Are Parable. 
  • The Mayor appointed a new Cultural Leadership Board, with Amanda Parker and Tom Sleigh appointed as Co-Chairs. The board has a wide range of expertise – including sustainability; place-making and regeneration; health and wellbeing; and AI and technology.

Culture across the capital 

  • The London Borough of Culture has now involved 16 boroughs, 569 schools, 4796 volunteers and 5,107 artistic partners since 2017. It has supported 25,907 development, employment and leadership opportunities for young people. Over £22m has been leveraged from over 20 programme funders using the Mayor’s investment. This year’s London Borough of Culture is Wandsworth, whose tenure runs from April 2025 until March 2026.
  • Liberty Festival is the Mayor’s free festival of works by D/deaf, disabled and neurodiverse artists. It forms part of the London Borough of Culture programme. In November 2024, six new members were appointed to the Liberty Advisory Group, to support the development and delivery of the 2025 festival. The Group includes 11 leading disability arts specialists, who bring lived experience of disability and expertise to guide and constructively challenge. 
  • The Mayor is helping to improve mental and physical health through his Creative Health programme. The Dementia Friendly Venues Charter, created in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Society and the London Museum, has now accredited 151 venues since its inception – with 39 accredited last year including Sadler’s Wells East and the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. He published the Understanding Creative Health in London report in September. This set out the evolution, scale and maturity of the creative health sector across London. A Creative Health Impact Toolkit also launched in March. 
  • The Mayor continues to champion diverse representation in the public realm. In June 2024, Aids Memory UK announced Anya Gallaccio’s ‘Tree of Life’ as the selected proposal for London’s first permanent HIV/AIDs memorial. The Mayor has granted £130,000 towards this memorial. In August 2024, ‘The Wake’ by Khaleb Brooks was announced as the winning proposal for the new Memorial to Victims of Transatlantic Slavery. 

A world-class offer 

  • East Bank is the new cultural quarter in the east of the capital. The Mayor has invested over £600m towards the £1.1bn cost of East Bank, the biggest ever cultural investment by any Mayor. This will lead to more than 2,500 jobs; and contribute an estimated £1.5bn for the local economy, with an additional 1.5m visitors to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the surrounding area each year. In February 2025, Sadler’s Wells East was the first cultural venue to open. 
  • The 15th Fourth Plinth Commission in Trafalgar Square is home to ‘Mil Veces un Instante’ by Teresa Margolles until September 2026. The Fourth Plinth Schools Awards 2024 received entries from 30 London boroughs. 
  • The World Cities Culture Forum charity is a global leadership network now with 43 cities members spanning six continents. The Forum, which was incubated at City Hall, enables London to gain access from expertise and best practice from across the world, through the annual Summit and its Leadership Exchanges. 

24 Hour London 

  • In February 2025 the Mayor launched the London Nightlife Taskforce, a group of 11 front-line business operators and nightlife experts tasked with identifying the biggest challenges affecting London’s nightlife; and proposing recommendations to tackle them. The taskforce is due to report its recommendations in October 2025. 
  • The Night Time Borough Champions Network and Night Time Policy Forum continued engagement with boroughs, helping them develop their holistic night time strategies. A masterclass programme worked with over a third of London boroughs to support their strategy development. Ealing and Richmond have launched their strategies, and Westminster City Council has published its draft strategy for public consultation. 
  • The Women’s Night Safety Charter is part of the Mayor’s Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy; and London’s commitment to the UN Women Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces global initiative. The Mayor committed a further £108,000 funding for Safer Business Network to deliver the Women’s Night Safety Charter programme in 2025-26. There are now over 2,700 organisations signed up, helping to ensure that women’s safety at night remains a priority in the capital. The Mayor’s Race Equality in Music Event Licensing project continues its commissioned research to identify the impact that licensing policies can have on Black, Asian and ethnically diverse music events. A report with the research findings and recommendations on how these issues can be addressed is due in 2025. 

Policing and crime

Police and Crime Plan

  • 2024-25 was the final year of delivery for the Mayor’s Police and Crime Plan 2022-25. Comparing the baseline period of 2021-22 with January-December 2024, violence with injury fell by 11.1 per cent; domestic homicide by 28 per cent; non-domestic homicide by 8 per cent; teen homicide by 43.5 per cent; and lethal barrel discharges by 25 per cent. The number of people under 25 admitted to hospital due to assault with a sharp object fell by 13.4 per cent. 
  • Kaya Comer-Schwartz was appointed London’s new Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime in November 2024.  
  • In March 2025, following consultation with more than 4,000 Londoners, partner organisations and community groups, the Mayor published his Police and Crime Plan for London 2025-29. The key aims of the Plan are:
    • reducing violence and criminal exploitation
    • building safer, more confident communities
    • supporting and overseeing reform of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)
    • improving the criminal justice system and supporting victims.
  • To deliver these priorities, the Mayor has continued to back the MPS with record investment from City Hall. In February 2025 he announced an allocation of £1.159bn for 2025-26 alone. City Hall funding now makes up 25 per cent of the MPS budget, compared to 19 per cent in 2016.
  • This is directly funding 1,300 officer posts, and has helped deliver stronger neighbourhood policing. Every London borough now has its own Neighbourhood Superintendent; and every ward has a minimum of two Dedicated Ward Officers and one Police Community Support Officer.

Trust and confidence in the MPS

  • Alongside this record support, the Mayor continued to oversee the MPS in delivering less crime, more trust and higher standards, as set out in the Commissioner’s New Met for London Plan. Following significant improvements – including those around child sexual exploitation, strengthening vetting procedures, and revitalising neighbourhood policing – His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) moved the MPS out of its ‘Engage’ special measures in January 2025. 
  • Trust in the MPS has begun to increase, from 69 per cent in the 12 months to Q4 2023-24, to 72 per cent in the 12 months to Q2 2024-25.
  • The Mayor’s London Policing Board has continued to support the Mayor in overseeing the MPS, meeting throughout 2024-25 to examine a variety of high-priority issues for Londoners.
  • The Mayor launched a new £5.4m service in 2025 to ensure vulnerable adults in contact with the police have timely access to an independent appropriate adult to support them. 
  • Through the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), the Mayor has invested £15.6m in a new London Violence and Exploitation Support Service (VESS). In June 2024, VESS opened its doors to provide holistic support to children and young adults (up to the age of 25) impacted by violence and exploitation in London.

Violence against women and girls (VAWG)

  • The Mayor continued his relentless focus on reducing and preventing VAWG. Since coming to office, he has overseen investment of over £233m from City Hall to tackle this issue. 
  • Announcements in 2024-25 included a new GPS tagging pilot to manage stalking offenders and protect victims; a further £3m investment to support grassroots organisations supporting victims and survivors of VAWG; and a £6m funding boost for his Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation (DASA) programme. Since it launched in 2021, DASA has helped more than 23,500 survivors of domestic abuse.
  • Building on the success of his “Have a Word” campaign, in 2024-25 the Mayor launched a new innovative £1m toolkit, developed by educational experts Tender. This uses workshops, drama and interactive sessions in the classroom to engage with young Londoners aged 9-11; and to champion healthy and respectful relationships and attitudes.
  • The Mayor continued to empower Londoners to challenge hateful views in their communities; better protect those vulnerable to radicalisation; and stop the spread of hateful ideologies through his Shared Endeavour Fund. Since the fund was launched in 2020, £3.9m has been invested in 115 projects. More than 170,000 Londoners have benefited from workshops, educational activities and interfaith community programmes.

Victims’ Commissioner 

  • Claire Waxman, London’s Independent Victims’ Commissioner, continued to campaign tirelessly for improvements to the criminal justice system on behalf of Londoners. Following the publication of the London Stalking Review in July 2024, Claire has secured legislative changes to the Crime and Policing Bill 2025, to help increase the use of Stalking Protection Orders. The government has also committed to reviewing the current stalking legislation – an ongoing piece of work that the Victim’s Commissioner’s office is involved with.
  • In addition, she has successfully campaigned for court transcripts to be made more accessible for victims – a pilot is being launched on the free provision of sentencing remarks. Several other measures that she has long campaigned for are now being brought forward by the government. These include raising the legal threshold for requesting victims’ counselling notes; removing parental responsibility from child sex offenders; introducing sanctions for perpetrators who refuse to attend their sentencing hearing; and extending the timeframes within which the Attorney General can handle victims’ appeals against unduly lenient sentences. She also campaigned successfully to strengthen the requirements, under the Victims and Prisoners Act, for agencies to comply with the Victims’ Code.

Fire and resilience

Fire

  • Among the organisations to receive recommendations in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry (GTI) Phase 1 report, only London Fire Brigade (LFB) has addressed all of theirs. This includes improvements in the Control room.
  • The GTI Phase 2 report was published on 4 September 2024. This was a critical step in the fight for justice for the Grenfell community, and LFB accepts all recommendations.
  • HMICFRS published its Round 3 report into LFB in November 2024. 
  • The report set out the progress LFB has made across key areas of concern. This included LFB’s improved understanding of risk and other emergencies through its Community Risk Management Plan. LFB is no longer in the Engage process but the report also sets out areas where there is still more to do, including prioritising culture change. 

Resilience 

  • The Mayor continues to ensure London is prepared to face its growing, evolving risks. 
  • In June 2024 the GLA established the London Resilience Unit (LRU). This merged the former GLA City Operations Unit and the London Resilience Group (which sat with LFB). A new Director of Resilience was appointed to oversee the integration of resilience functions, and provide coherent support and leadership for all aspects of resilience – from prevention through to response and recovery. 
  • The London Resilience Forum (LRF) adopted an updated London Resilience Strategy in February 2025. The new strategy places a strong focus on supporting communities, and putting Londoners at the heart of resilience practice; supporting robust preparation, response and recovery; and enhancing leadership and accountability. 
  • The London Communities Emergencies Partnership (established in 2023, and part-funded by the GLA) continued to go from strength to strength. It enables collaboration between London’s formal emergency response structures and community organisations with vital local knowledge. 
  • The LRU has provided seed funding to voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations in 22 London boroughs, enabling their work with borough emergency planning teams on partnership projects to build resilience. A further round of funding will cover all remaining boroughs in 2025. 
  • The LRU has funded the London Boroughs Faiths Network to provide resilience training to four cohorts of faith leaders in five boroughs. Topics included first aid; hate crime; climate resilience; Martyn’s Law; and psychosocial support. 
  • For the fifth year running, the GLA Cool Spaces map pointed Londoners to an increasing number of places where they can find respite from heat while out and about during summer. 
  • The LRU has commissioned Protection Approaches to help establish an LRF equalities partnership. This effort aims to ensure that the diverse needs of Londoners are factored into resilience planning and emergency response. 
  • The LRU supported coordination of London’s multi-agency emergency response to a range of emergencies. These include the civil unrest in summer 2024; the residential tower block fire in Dagenham; the Hayes substation fire and Heathrow closure; and the two fires at Aberdeen Place substation in Maida Vale.
  • The LRU embarked on a new partnership with the MPS to deliver strategic intelligence and analysis. They collaborated with partners to assess emerging threats, monitor public sentiment, and inform London’s emergency response and resilience strategies.
  • The LRU continued its partnership with London local authorities to deliver coordinated regional strategic advice; and support to London Local Authority Gold and London local authority regional resilience arrangements.
  • We have continued our Counter Terrorism Preparedness Network, in partnership with the City of Stockholm and Washington, DC. This brings together international experts to influence and develop cities’ multi-agency arrangements in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from terrorism.

Environment

Climate mitigation and energy 

  • The £2m Greener Schools pilot was launched in December 2024. This invites London boroughs to apply for capital funding for decarbonising schools. 24 boroughs applied for funding, covering over 100 schools across London. 
  • The GLA and London Councils launched a new joint body called Warmer Homes London (WHL) in January 2025. This will provide a central hub to lead domestic decarbonisation in London. The Mayor will invest almost £10m to support WHL between now and March 2028. 
  • The seventh round of the London Community Energy Fund made offers totalling £385,000 to 24 community energy projects. This brings the total investment since 2017 to £2.5m.
  • The £9m Zero Carbon Accelerator (CZA) launched in September 2024. This will support a range of public sector and community organisations to decarbonise their buildings. It builds on the successes of the Mayor’s Low Carbon Accelerators, which ran from 2016 to 2024. The CZA has received 98 expressions of interest (EOIs) from a wide range of organisations such as London boroughs, GLA Group bodies, cultural organisations, health and education providers and community groups.
  • In June 2024, the Mayor expanded his London Climate Finance Facility; and launched the London EDGE Fund, a £100m co-investment fund between the GLA and Sustainable Development Capital Ltd. The fund supports energy efficiency, low-carbon transportation and decentralised energy projects.
  • The Mayor’s Better Futures programme supported cleantech startups to develop innovative products and services, while helping everyday SMEs transition to net zero. In its third delivery phase (funded under the UKSPF), the project supported over 130 cleantech businesses and 353 everyday businesses. The projects saved 1,125 tons of CO2; completed 57 decarbonisation plans; and were awarded seven grants. 

Green infrastructure

  • Since 2016, the Mayor has enabled 900 hectares of green-space improvement and creation – equivalent to more than 2,000 football pitches. This includes nine large-scale greening projects that were supported by the Mayor’s Green and Resilient Spaces Fund, and have been completed by 2025.
  • The Mayor has demonstrated his ongoing commitment to increase tree-canopy cover by 10 per cent by 2050. Since 2016, the Mayor’s funding has enabled the planting of more than 600,000 trees across London (up to and including the 2024-25 planting season), including two major woodland creation projects. 
  • The Mayor continued investing in rewilding. This includes supporting 40 traineeships between 2021 and 2024 that helped young Londoners from underrepresented communities to develop vital new skills; and awarding grants to enhance existing rewilding-related community science initiatives. The Mayor also supported the development of London Wildlife Trust’s Keeping It Wild Collective. The Collective, which launched in May 2025,  is expected to support 1,200 young Londoners to engage with nature. 
  • The third round of the Mayor’s Rewild London Fund supported 21 projects. These include restoring and improving biodiversity at Queensmere Pond, following a feasibility study funded by round two; creating a wildlife-rich habitat in and around community orchards in Lewisham; and changing management practices and involving residents in nature at housing estates in Tower Hamlets. 

Climate resilience

  • In March 2025, the Mayor hosted a roundtable that brought together a coalition of organisations to improve the health of London’s waterways – a Mayoral manifesto commitment. The roundtable is the first milestone in responding to this commitment. Working groups now bring together a wider range of stakeholders that will work towards the publication of a plan within a year; and will identify up to 10 flagship locations to focus our investment and partnership working.
  • In September 2024, the GLA and London Councils were awarded €210,000 following a successful bid to the EU Mission Adaptation Pathways2Resilience programme. This supports European cities and regions to become resilient to climate impacts. This work will develop a vision, a heat risk plan and an investment plan to help deliver the recommendations of the London Climate Resilience Review (published in July 2024). 
  • London’s first Surface Water Strategy was published in May 2025. 

Making London a zero-waste city 

  • On 20 December 2024, the Deputy Mayor for Environment and Energy, Mete Coban MBE, was appointed as Chair of the ReLondon Board. His key priorities will include fostering an effective partnership between the Mayor of London, ReLondon and the London boroughs, to achieve shared goals of reducing waste, increasing recycling and transitioning the capital to a circular economy that benefits all Londoners.
  • Through ReLondon, we held London’s seventh Circular Economy Week in 2024. More than 1,800 people attended over 55 events and activities – ranging from roundtables to discuss key themes, to learning how to repair clothing, tech and bikes.
  • The Mayor’s network of 110 drinking fountains has helped avoid the use of over 7.5m single-use plastic bottles since it was installed.

Housing and land

Building more homes

  • 2024-25 saw 11,636 affordable homes completed in London with support from the Mayor. This number exceeds last year’s total, and is more than double the level achieved in 2015-16 under the previous Mayor. This is despite the impact of increased construction costs, rising interest rates and wider market uncertainty.
  • The Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26 has been under way since April 2023. Despite challenges, the delivery of 3,991 starts in 2024-25 represents a 69 per cent increase on the previous year. The Mayor’s housing team continues to work with central government, and the sector, to identify the wider operating issues; and find solutions to help partners continue developing sites for affordable housing.
  • Delivery against the Mayor’s manifesto commitment to support 40,000 new council homes by 2034 is progressing well. To the end of March 2025, a total of 25,359 council homes started on site and 12,552 council homes were completed. During 2024-25, 3,690 council homes were completed: the highest number of council home completions since GLA records for council homes delivery began in 2018.
  • The Mayor secured £50m funding from government to support estate regeneration, achieving his target of investing £25m in 2024-25.
  • During 2024-25, the cumulative total of grant made available through the Mayor’s Community Housing Fund for London reached almost £21m, plus £9m for loans. To date, the fund has supported 117 homes to start on site, of which 93 have completed. During 2024-25, there were 22 starts and 27 completions.
  • Building homes on the GLA Group’s land is also critical. 382 homes were started on GLA land or through joint ventures during 2024-25, bringing the total to 6,576 starts since April 2021.
  • The Mayor’s Homes for Londoners Land Fund continued to unlock new homes; 806 starts and 497 completions were achieved in 2024-25.
  • The Mayor’s Small Sites Small Builders programme continued to support public-sector organisations to bring sites to the market for development by small developers, housing associations and community-led groups. Since 2017, the programme has facilitated 70 sites to market. A further 19 sites are in the pipeline, providing capacity for a total of around 700 homes.

Accommodation and support for those who need it most

  • During 2024-25, an additional 192 homes for rough sleepers were completed through the Mayor’s Rough Sleeping Accommodation Programme, his Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme, and other legacy rough-sleeping programmes.
  • In 2024-25, the Mayor’s Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund achieved 346 completions of homes for older and disabled Londoners.
  • During 2024-25, the Mayor’s Life Off the Streets core services – providing immediate routes off the street, and specialist series and support to help people maintain their tenancies – supported around 4,000 people. 18,000 people have been supported off the streets since 2016, with more than 75 per cent of them staying off the streets for good.
  • During 2024-25, 86 social housing tenants were supported to move to a new home in the capital through the Mayor’s Housing Moves programme. 151 households found new accommodation outside of London through the Mayor’s Seaside and Countryside Homes programme in 2024-25, freeing up homes for Londoners in housing need.
  • The GLA Pan-London Youth Hub supported 98 young people aged 18-24 who were previously sleeping rough or at immediate risk of sleeping on the streets.
  • The Migrant Accommodation Pathways Support Service supported over 550 people to identify a route out of homelessness. The GLA also worked in partnership with London Councils to continue funding the sub-regional Immigration Advice Services programme; in 2024-25, this supported 1,143 individuals sleeping rough (or at risk of sleeping rough) to access immigration advice.

Building safety

  • The GLA is working in partnership with the government, LFB, London Councils and regulatory bodies to accelerate the remediation of over 11m residential buildings with unsafe cladding.
  • The Deputy Mayor for Housing and Residential Development is co-chairing a new Joint Remediation Partnership Board with Alex Norris MP, the Building Safety Minister. The Board oversees the development of the London Local Remediation Acceleration Plan – this will set out how City Hall will accelerate the pace of remediation.
  • The GLA is working with its development partners to ensure they remediate any potentially unsafe cladding on GLA Land & Property freehold land as soon as possible.

Rented housing

  • The Mayor has continued to support borough enforcement teams to improve private renting in London through his Private Rented Sector Partnership, and his online tools and checkers. There are currently 3,512 records on the Rogue Landlord and Agent Checker, launched in 2017. The Checker contains information about private landlords and letting agents who have been prosecuted or fined. It has been viewed 72,632 times in 2024-25, and almost 600,000 times in its lifetime.
  • The Mayor’s Property Licence Checker, launched in 2020, was viewed 60,216 times in 2024-25 and over 200,000 times since its launch. The Mayor’s Report a Rogue Tool has received 2,331 reports in 2024-25 and 11,426 in its lifetime.
  • The Mayor launched his consultation on Key Worker Living Rent Homes. It was one of his 2024 manifesto commitments to deliver this.

Planning and regeneration

London Plan

  • London Plan Guidance (LPG) provides further information about how the current London Plan should be implemented. During 2024-25, the following LPGs were adopted:
    • Purpose Built Student Accommodation
    • Digital Connectivity Infrastructure.
  • A practice note on Accelerating Housing Delivery was published in December 2024. The practice note focuses on supporting short-term delivery and is part of wider approaches established through the London Plan. 
  • As a core part of building a stronger evidence base for future Housing Policy, work continued on implementing a new live digital Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment. In autumn 2024, the newly developed Call for Sites submission portal launched. And since October 2024, the Land4LDN platform has been live; local planning authorities in London can use this to review and prepare their land-supply information. The aim is to make a new shared evidence base for all London’s planning authorities, as part of work for the next London Plan.
  • We secured nearly £800k of government funding to undertake a London-wide green belt assessment, in conjunction with the vast majority of boroughs with green belt land. This work is now under way. The green belt review will form part of the evidence base for the next London Plan.

Mayoral call-ins

  • There were hearings for two call-ins: a residential scheme at Springfield hospital in Wandsworth; and the All England Lawn Tennis Club expansion. Both were approved. 

Regeneration

  • Over the last year, nine project openings from the Mayor’s 79 Good Growth Fund projects came forward. These included investment in:
    • Brixton Rec quarter in Lambeth: to improve the public realm and street market, and the conversion of a disused space into STEM workspace
    • Enterprising Tottenham High Road in Haringey: a multi-project investment to transform Tottenham High Road into a centre for local enterprise
    • Estate of Play (SPID Theatre) in Kensington and Chelsea: refurbishing and expanding a Grade II* Listed building into a fully accessible community space.
  • The Civic Partnership Programme was launched, providing £12.4m of capital investment between 2024-25 and 2026-27 to transform the public realm; activate underused spaces; and deliver environmental improvements in five town centres. This work is in partnership with boroughs and local communities.
  • In July 2024, the High Street Network was relaunched, bringing together 210 individuals from 34 local authorities and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) to lead the conversation about creating more inclusive and sustainable high streets..
  • The High Streets Data Service (HSDS) continues to grow, and now supports 37 subscribing boroughs and BIDs. The Crown Estate recently joined as the first property-owner partner.
  • A newly launched HSDS reporting tool is enabling councils to track vacant units across high streets and town centres, and identify persistently vacant sites. These will be open for consideration for high street rental auctions, based on powers that came into effect in December 2024. These powers allow local authorities in England to hold rental auctions to let qualifying high-street premises that have been unoccupied for the whole of the preceding year.

Digital and data

  • The Mayor launched a new single planning policy map of London, including all spatial data from all 35 planning authorities (over 2,000 layers of data). This enables a pan-London view of planning policy for the first time. Since its launch in December 2024, the map has been used over 23.4m times. It remains the only one of its kind in the UK. 
  • The Mayor Launched the LAND4LDN programme, a single platform developed in collaboration with every planning authority in London. This to understand where all future development sites are located for the next 10 years. By developing a shared dataset, the Mayor has created a space where boroughs can benefit from the new technology to build a framework for increased delivery, and a shared evidence base for policymaking. The data will form the evidence base not only for the London Plan, but for all future policymaking across London. 
  • The Mayor secured £200,000 funding to enable the Data and Digital team to share their learning with other cities across the UK – working in partnership with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, and other cities, to benefit from accessing data from the planning system. 

Oxford Street Transformation

Oxford Street pedestrianisation launch event

On 18 September 2024, the Mayor and the Deputy Prime Minister announced plans to transform Oxford Street into a vibrant retail and leisure destination. 

Public consultation on Oxford Street pedestrianisation and a new MDC

In February 2025, the Mayor launched a formal public consultation on the principle of pedestrianising Oxford Street; and a proposal to establish a dedicated Mayoral Development Corporation to drive the area’s long-term regeneration. The consultation remained open until 2 May 2025. It invited the public to share views on the following:

  • The Mayor’s proposals for the new MDC. These include granting specific planning powers to support delivery of an exemplar scheme that works for residents, businesses and visitors, while strengthening local coordination and partnership working.
  • The principle of pedestrianising Oxford Street, to create a vibrant public space. Enhancing the visitor experience is key to the regeneration and transformation of Oxford Street into a world-class destination.

The Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC)

  • The OPDC secured over 90 per cent of the private land required for the Old Oak regeneration scheme through private acquisitions. To date, the OPDC has acquired 13 sites, within the Old Oak area, that will connect with the adjacent government-owned landholdings to form a single, overarching development site.
  • The OPDC made significant progress in agreeing with its public-sector partners (the Department for Transport and Network Rail) on the approach to securing the public land needed for the regeneration of Old Oak. This agreement is targeted for completion early in 2025-26.
  • The OPDC secured additional capital funding from both GLA and MHCLG to support investment in land and infrastructure. This is already being deployed to accelerate the unlocking of homes and economic growth at Old Oak. 
  • Market engagement commenced with potential investors and development partners in November 2024. To date, the OPDC has undertaken market engagement with 24 investors and developers, sharing the compelling development offer and refining the approach to securing the right partner to bring forward investment and delivery of the Old Oak programme.
  • The OPDC’s Public Realm and Green Infrastructure Supplementary Planning Document was adopted and its revised Statement of Community Involvement approved.
  • In February 2025, Hemiko was appointed as development and funding partner for the Old Oak and Park Royal Energy Network. It co-invested £36m of Government Green Heat Network funding to bring the scheme forward. The innovative network will draw waste heat from local data centres, providing low-cost, low-carbon energy to over 9,000 new homes and businesses in the Old Oak and Park Royal area, as well as existing buildings including Central Middlesex Hospital.
  • By 31 March 2025, 5,817 homes had been completed or were under construction across the OPDC area; and 3,392 more had planning permission or resolution to grant. Of these homes, 39 per cent are affordable. Over 3,000 additional homes are in the planning pipeline.
  • £7.8m of S106 funds was allocated to projects working to advance the delivery of infrastructure, including public realm improvements in Park Royal and North Acton; and local school expansions/improvements.
  • In March 2025, the OPDC concluded its fourth Small Grants funding round, supporting grassroots community-led projects and charities. The OPDC received 71 applications, with 10 projects being selected to receive funding. To date, the programme has awarded £270,000 to 50 community-led organisations.

The London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC)

  • In August 2024, Shazia Hussain was appointed new Chief Executive of the LLDC. Following a confirmation hearing in September, Suki Kalirai was confirmed as the new LLDC Chair. The LLDC’s new leadership is tasked with progressing the third phase of the Olympic legacy, focussing on inclusive growth.
  • The installation of 6,500 sqm of solar panels on London Stadium commenced, funded by the Mayor of London’s Green Finance Fund. The project enables the Stadium to save more than 200 tonnes of carbon emissions a year; and generate enough to power all the venue’s major events.
  • The final LLDC Planning Decisions Committee meeting was held in October 2024. Coinciding with the meeting, the LLDC launched its report, A Town Planning Legacy: Outcomes from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This reflects on the LLDC’s successful 12 years as a local planning authority.
  • On 1 December 2024, the LLDC’s Town Planning Powers were returned to the four Growth Boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest.
  • On 6 February 2025, Sadler’s Wells East officially opened its doors at Stratford Waterfront. This marks another major milestone at East Bank. 
  • On housing delivery, the following achievements were reached:
    • In June 2024, the LLDC and Ballymore were awarded detailed planning consent for 700 new homes at Stratford Waterfront. Construction is expected to be under way by spring 2026, with completion anticipated for late 2029.
    • In December 2024, the LLDC announced it had formed a joint venture partnership with Vistry Group for the delivery of 948 new homes in Pudding Mill Lane in Stratford. Construction of the first phase is anticipated to start in early 2026, with completion of the overall scheme scheduled for 2033.

Civil society and sport

Youth Social Action 

The Mayor’s Youth-led Social Action programmes empower underrepresented young Londoners, addressing local issues and amplifying their voices. Young Ambassadors connects young people to their communities. Working with the Young Tree Champions project, the programme has supported the planting of over 4,000 trees.

Go! London 

Go! London is a five-year, £22.5m partnership between the Mayor, the London Marathon Foundation and Sport England. More than £2m was awarded in its second year (2024-25) to organisations across 31 London boroughs, which will provide sport and further positive opportunities to an expected 15,000-plus young people.

Sport team and Violence Reduction Unit

Using funding from MOPAC’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), the sport team has delivered the following: 

  • Provided 2,229 young Londoners, affected by violence, access to free sport and development opportunities.
  • The Future Ready Fund awarded eight organisations up to £50,000 each, over two years, to support children in years 5 and 6 who have been identified as being at risk of exclusion. The organisations work to improve engagement at primary level, and successfully transition to secondary education. 
  • The Mental Health and Bereavement Pilot awarded two organisations £20,000 each, to provide sport and mental health support to young people whose peers have died as a result of serious youth violence. This resulted in improved mental wellbeing and peer relationships, and better school engagement.

Sport Unites

Sport Unites is the Mayor's flagship community sports programme. It supports his long-term vision to make London the most active and socially integrated city in the world. In 2024-25, work included the following: 

  • In March 2023, the London Coaches Programme was launched in partnership with the US National Basketball Association, and delivered by Basketball England. 
  • The London EmpowerHER programme, in collaboration with the Rugby Football Union, launched in February 2024. Using non-contact T1 rugby, it promotes physical fitness, employability and leadership skills for young women and girls in Redbridge and Brent. 
  • The London Youth Games Disability Inclusion programme aims to improve sport accessibility for disabled young people. Between March 2023 and March 2025, a total of 1,604 disabled young people competed across 21 para-games events; and 1,631 across all events and sports. 

Team London/Major Events volunteering 

Recognising the wellbeing and skill-building benefits of volunteering, the Major Events and Volunteering team delivers a high-profile accessible volunteering programme across London. In 2024-25 the team: 

  • provided volunteers with opportunities across 18 events; volunteers completed a total of 2,293 shifts
  • supported volunteers at events engaging with London’s diverse communities, including Black on the Square, Eid in the Square, Vaisakhi on the Square, Team GB Fanzone and UEFA Champions League Final. 

Civil society support and championing of volunteering 

The Civil Society and Sport Unit led on a number of collaborations to support the VCS, and champion volunteering in 2024-25: 

  • The London’s Lifelines website has, since its launch in 2022, shared 152 stories showcasing and promoting London’s volunteering scope and scale, and recognising Londoners’ contribution to their communities. 
  • The London Volunteering Strategy Group exists to champion and promote volunteering. Its representatives include faith groups, young people’s umbrella bodies, equity and civil society infrastructure organisations, and global majority groups. In February 2025, the group launched its London Vision for Volunteering.
  • Work continued with Simply Connect on London’s volunteering platform “Simply Volunteer London”. The site launched on 27 February 2024. 

Health, children and young Londoners

Engaging with the health and care system 

  • The Mayor has continued to meet regularly with senior leaders from the NHS – alongside his Deputy Mayor Joanne McCartney, and his Health Adviser Dr Tom Coffey – to discuss a range of important matters for Londoners’ health. 
  • He has also met regularly with Professor Kevin Fenton – his Statutory Health Adviser, and the London Regional Director of Public Health at the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. 
  • These conversations have covered a range of issues, including:
    • the importance of economic growth, and the contribution that the health and care system could make 
    • operational performance, waiting lists, and the opening of new diagnostic centres to reduce waiting times and improve patient outcomes
    • priorities for NHS London, including mental health services for children and young people; accelerating digital transformation; and enhancing preventative care, including for cardiovascular disease
    • winter resilience and health protection issues – including the severe mpox outbreak in central Africa, and London’s readiness
    • the emerging work on London’s health mission, and the health and care partnership’s role in that.

LARCH

  • The London Anti-Racism Collaboration for Health (LARCH) conference brought together health and care professionals, and strategic leaders, to mark delivery of the first year of the LARCH programme. This aims to strengthen professional networks, and support organisations in improving their race equity practices using the Race Equity Maturity Index – a new tool developed by LARCH. 
  • LARCH was designed in partnership with a wide variety of health partners in both the public and voluntary and community sectors to tackle ethnic health inequalities; and improve the treatment of Black, Asian and minoritised ethnic communities across the health and care sector.

 

Health protection and public health campaigns

  • When the Mayor received his flu jab, he used his social media channels to support the NHS and UKHSA’s latest “Get Winter Strong” campaign and encourage eligible Londoners to do the same and get protected to stay healthy, over the winter season. 
  • He supported the NHS England’s Ask About Asthma campaign, through a personal video on his social media channels. This year’s focus was on helping children and young people with asthma to thrive. The Mayor’s policies – including the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) – have helped cut harmful roadside nitrogen dioxide levels by nearly half since 2016 (air pollution is a major trigger for asthma). 
  • On awareness days such as World Suicide Prevention Day, World Mental Health Day, Movember and Great Mental Health Day, the Mayor has used his channels to encourage Londoners to have conversations about mental health. He also encouraged Londoners to take up free, online suicide prevention training from the Zero Suicide Alliance; 449,000 have completed it. The training is designed to help people identify warning signs, and to feel comfortable having conversations with friends and family about suicide.
  • During HIV Testing Week, the Mayor called on Londoners to come forward and get tested, as this is the first step to accessing the best treatment and support. London is leading the way to end the HIV epidemic by 2030, and was the first global city to surpass the UNAIDS targets with 97 per cent of people living with HIV diagnosed; 98 per cent of those diagnosed receiving treatment; and 98 per cent of those on treatment virally suppressed.

Mayor of London’s tests for major health service changes 

  • As part of his commitment to champion our NHS, and support improvements to London’s health and care system, the Mayor has developed a framework of tests for major proposed changes to NHS services in London.
  • In the last year he has written to the NHS on changes, including to:
    • the children’s cancer services in south London
    • acute adult mental health care in north west London
    • maternity and neonatal services in north central London.
  • Positions were informed by independent reviews that the Mayor commissioned from the Strategy Unit and the Nuffield Trust. 
  • He called for the NHS to outline how changes will reduce health inequalities; and to ensure that engagement and co-production with patients remains at the heart of improvements to services. 
  • These letters were published on the GLA website. 

Supporting blood donation 

  • Every minute NHS hospitals in England need three blood donations to help save lives.
  • Since a cyber-attack in early June 2024, an amber alert for low blood stocks has been in place across England. The Mayor used social media to support NHS Blood and Transplant’s urgent call to Londoners to step forward and donate – both immediately after the cyber-attack, and during National Blood Week the following week.
  • In January 2025 the Deputy Mayor for Communities and Social Justice, Dr Debbie Weekes-Bernard, gave opening remarks, in support of NHS Blood and Transplant, at the launch of a new permanent blood donor centre in Brixton. 
  • This was a key moment to encourage Londoners to become regular blood donors and help save lives, particularly those from Black and Asian heritage. 

Children and young Londoners – universal free school meals 

  • Under the Mayor’s programme, up to 270,000 state primary school children have been supported each school day with free school meals (which could save families over £500 per child annually).
  • More than 60m meals were funded by the spring term in 2024-25. 
  • An independent evaluation by Impact on Urban Health found the policy is easing pressures on family finances, improving children’s health and wellbeing, and strengthening school communities. 
  • Parents noted their children are trying new foods; and the intervention has contributed to a calmer, more productive school environment. 
  • Many families have also seen improvements in their children's concentration, energy, mental wellbeing, and overall enjoyment of school. Parents have also noted improvements in their wellbeing due to the minimised pressures on their time and finances.

Positive opportunities for young people

  • Since his election to office in 2016, the Mayor has invested over £100m in over 500,000 positive opportunities for young people, providing them with safe spaces, trusted relationships and positive activities.
  • This includes over 400,000 activities delivered through London’s VRU since it was set up in 2019. The Mayor continues to commit to tackling the complex causes of violence, and keeping young people safe in and out of school. In 2024 London recorded the lowest number of homicides of under-25s for 22 years. 
  • Through £34m investment in the New Deal for Young People, over 100,000 disadvantaged young people have now had access to mentoring support. Over 24,000 young people benefited between April 2024 and March 2025. This has led to significant outcomes, including improved mental health and wellbeing; improved relationships; improved learning and work outcomes; and reduced risky and harmful behaviours.
  • The Mayor is also supporting the quality and sustainability of the mentoring and youth sector, following decades of central government funding cuts. He is providing support and training for youth workers and mentors, and improving standards for quality mentoring, through his Mentoring Quality Framework. 
  • The Mayor is delivering on his commitment to create 250,000 more positive opportunities for under-served young Londoners over his remaining term. 

Healthy Schools London/Healthy Early Years London programme 

  • To date 2,359 schools have registered on the Healthy Schools London programme; and 2,519 early-years settings have registered on the Healthy Early Years London programme.
  • As part of the programme review, interim changes were made to the Healthy Early Years London programme in September 2024. These aimed to improve programme uptake. 
  • Through a review and refresh of the Healthy Schools London programme, work is in progress to embed a water-only schools policy and to monitor uptake.

Healthy place, healthy weight 

  • Many of London’s schools are in environments dominated by traffic, too many unhealthy food outlets, polluted air and limited access to high-quality green spaces. These challenges make it more difficult for children and young people to stay healthy. 
  • Since 2021, the Mayor has invested £1.9m to expand School Superzones across London; this is the flagship programme of the Healthy Place, Healthy Weight mission. It uses partnership working, and the place-shaping powers of local authorities, to improve the environment around schools in the most disadvantaged areas. By April 2024, there were 87 Superzones schools across 28 boroughs. 
  • Over 2024-25, Superzones delivery focused on evaluation, showing significant progress in improving school environments in the most disadvantaged areas. Key achievements include greener spaces; improved safety; more physically active students; and greater awareness of, and action on, air pollution. 
  • Work also began on creating resources to help boroughs and organisations develop and sustain new Superzones. This work is making areas where children live, learn, play and socialise healthier and more enjoyable. 

Youth engagement 

  • The Mayor believes that children and young people are London’s greatest asset. He is committed to ensuring they actively participate in the work of City Hall. 
  • The London Partnership Youth Board (LPYB) is a diverse group of young Londoners aged 16-25, created to amplify youth voice and influence city-wide decision-making. It supports the London Partnership Board (made up of leaders from government, healthcare, business, and transport). In 2024-25, the group engaged with the Co-Chair of the London Partnership Board, Councillor Claire Holland; and Deputy Chair of London Councils, and Leader of Waltham Forest, Councillor Grace Williams. The group used this opportunity to offer advice (based on their experience) around housing and other areas linked to the London Missions. 
  • The Mayor's Peer Outreach Workers are a dynamic and diverse team of young people aged 15-25, many of whom are NEET. They work across London to ensure young people’s views influence decision-making, policy and delivery.
  • The Lynk Up Crew (LUC) represents the voices of children and young people aged 7-14, offering valuable insights to City Hall and partner organisations on issues affecting their age group. The LUC is passionate about children’s rights and empowering their peers. This year it has explored topics on climate and the environment; first aid and safety; financial literacy; and mental health. 

Communities and social policy

Financial hardship 

In 2024-25, the Mayor’s income maximisation interventions collectively provided support to over 40,000 Londoners. They generated more than £32m in additional income for some of the most disadvantaged households – taking cumulative totals to 109,000 Londoners, and £60m, since April 2022. This work included the following: 

  • Funding a second year of the Pension Credit awareness-raising campaign, securing £9.5m in benefit claims for pensioners across the capital. Over 2,100 households made successful claims, with an annual average of £4,394 per claim. In addition, all of these could claim Winter Fuel Payment, totalling £200 per household.
  • Continuing to fund the London Citizens Advice and London Legal Support Trust’s pan-London advice service networks. This resulted in over 33,000 Londoners receiving advice on topics including welfare benefits, debt, housing and immigration; and over £15m generated in additional income for beneficiaries.
  • Continuing to fund 10 community advice partnerships through the Advice in Community Settings programme. This resulted in over 3,000 households from the most disadvantaged and excluded communities receiving advice (many for the first time), generating nearly £2m in additional income for beneficiaries. 
  • In addition, the Mayor’s Cost of Living Hub (which signposts Londoners to trusted information and guidance about financial rights, and entitlements to help with living costs) continued to be updated and promoted (via various channels) through 2024-25. 

Food insecurity 

  • The Mayor’s emergency free holiday meals programme helps plug gaps in the government’s existing Holiday Activities and Food programme, reaching London’s children and families with the highest need levels. As financial hardship is food insecurity’s main driver, the programme provides information for families, signposting them to advice. The Felix Project and the Mayor’s Fund for London worked in partnership, delivering 9.9m holiday and weekend meals to low-income families in the programme’s second year.
  • The Food Roots programme has this year supported local food partnerships in 22 boroughs to embed more sustainable, resilient approaches to tackle food insecurity in their communities – including through wraparound support. The programme uses grants, mentoring, expert learning sessions and peer support to build sector capacity, developing robust cross-sector partnerships. An evaluation will be published in summer 2025.

Third round of the Civil Society Roots Fund

  • 21 grantee organisations have continued to work with Londoners most impacted by structural inequalities. 
  • In partnership with the National Lottery Community Fund and City Bridge Foundation, grants of up to £30,000 were awarded to each organisation. These including women, disability and migrant-led groups from Bromley, Enfield, Harrow, Hillingdon, Havering, Newham, Hounslow, Redbridge, Sutton and Wandsworth. 

The EDI advisory group

The group continues to guide the Mayor’s work on tackling inequalities and creating a fairer city. EDI advisory group members have advised on EDI-related issues in London, including those faced by specific communities and equalities groups. 

  • The Mayor continued partner collaboration across London to address labour market inequality in London. 
  • The GLA focused on tackling socio-economic inequalities, by adopting the socio-economic duty of Section 1 of the Equality Act 2010. During 2024, we worked with senior leaders from London’s local authorities to gain insight into how they approached adoption of this duty; and to recruit these boroughs as champions for change to encourage others to take action. 
  • We worked with our commissioning partners to develop a programme of support targeting the influence of chief executives as change influencers. The GLA worked with the Good Work Standard team, and the LAIN team, to encourage employers to embed good workplace menopause policies, and in this way to promote greater gender equity in the workplace. 

Foundations of engagement work 

  • In continually recognising national, cultural and religious community dates, the Deputy Mayor for Communities and Social Justice, Dr Debbie Weekes-Bernard, has undertaken community visits for Channukah, Christmas, Easter, Eid, Vaisakhi, Diwali, South Asian Heritage Month and more – the busiest year yet.
  • In February 2025, a community celebration breakfast hosted by the Deputy Mayor at City Hall, and attended by over 100 community representatives, was used as the pre-launch of the “Loved & Wanted” campaign. 

Civic Futures Fellowship

  • 30 leaders from across local government, civil society, the charity sector and the creative industries spent the past year working together to deliver a better future for London. This work is part of the fourth and final cohort of the Civic Futures Fellowship, which will come to an end in May 2025. 
  • The Civic Futures Experimentation Fund supported five innovative projects. One project investigated how to bridge the gap between communities, researchers and policymakers. to create a richer evidence base for policymaking. Another project looked at how communities can better embrace and support diversity of social connection – creating more accessible and inclusive places for all. 

The London Engagement Collaborative (LEC)

  • The London Engagement Collaborative (LEC) – a pan-London, cross-sector network aimed at improving engagement practice and collaborative working – is now in its third and final year.
  • It has over 500 members who have been actively involved in the network’s events and activities. Members share their own experiences and expertise around engagement practice and communities in London. 
  • This year the LEC expanded its offer to network members, through a new monthly newsletter; online and face-to-face workshops; and an online hub to access insights and resources on community engagement practice. 
  • The LEC’s Good Ideas Fund provided small grants to five London-based organisations, to build collaborations across sectors and help communities access services and/or have a voice in policy and decision-making. 

Forum for Deaf and disabled people’s organisations, and disability co-production group

  • The forum continues to provide expertise and insight on barriers facing disabled Londoners. This is used in shaping GLA policy and programmes.
  • Following feedback provided by forum members in 2024, MOPAC established a disability co-production group. This was initially set up to inform development of the Police and Crime Plan; it will continue to engage with MOPAC on a broader scope of work. 

The Workforce Integration Network (WIN) Design Lab

The WIN Design Lab worked with large employers, in the Mayor’s key priority sectors, to support them in tackling barriers faced by Londoners from Black, and minority ethnic backgrounds, when accessing and progressing in the labour market. Some of the key successes of the programme included: 

  • 28 companies signed up in the 2023-25 programme, including national and global brands with a combined workforce of more than 110,000 employees. 
  • Health cohort employers graduated from the programme in March 2024. Participants included 11 of the largest NHS trusts in London, including Great Ormond Street Hospital, King’s College Hospital and Imperial College NHS Trust. 
  • Creative cohort employers graduated in September 2024. Participants include 11 large employers in post-production, media and cultural organisations such as the National Theatre, Framestore and M&C Saatchi. 
  • The green economy cohort graduated in March 2025. Participants include six large employers (among them Lendlease, Ferrovial UK and Glendale) with a combined workforce of 11,000 employees in clean construction, engineering and green spaces. 
  • Employers developed a total of 32 projects on inclusive recruitment; career progression; enhanced data collection and reporting; outreach with local communities; and anti-racism policies and procedures. 

WIN research projects

In 2024-25, the WIN commissioned two research projects to advance the case for addressing labour market inequality; and to support businesses to create inclusive workplaces. The WIN will use the research findings to inform the GLA’s work, and its stakeholder relationships, to ensure EDI policies are embedded in employers’ policies and workplaces. The research examines: 

  • the experiences of Pakistani and Bangladeshi women in the workplace, to identify the intersectional barriers they face to pursue and advance in good work; and the policies and practices needed to tackle these
  • data analysis to measure the opportunity cost for London’s economy of unemployment and underemployment of minoritised groups. 

WIN support 

In 2024-25 the WIN commissioned a consultant to help us understand how to deliver increased (direct) support to our identified groups who face the most barriers into work. 

This project was co-designed with up to 20 community organisations. We are currently in the testing phase of this project of which was awarded £500,000 from the UKSPF in March 2025. 

This project will launch in summer 2025, and aims to: 

  • support our beneficiaries into good work at scale
  • improve partnership working between place-based employability
  • help to give employers access to job-ready talent.

Transport, air quality, connectivity and infrastructure

Transport 

  • TfL’s Cycleway network surpassed 400km this year, more than quadrupling in length since 2016. Ten new routes were introduced across the city this year, meaning 27 per cent of Londoners now live within 400m of a high-quality cycle route. Work is ongoing to encourage more Londoners to take up cycling, including 900 new e-bikes in the Santander cycle hire scheme, and extending day-pass validity from 30 minutes to an hour. TfL also provided over £80m in funding to London’s boroughs to deliver Healthy Streets schemes, and more than £500,000 to community groups supporting Londoners to take up active travel.
  • TfL celebrated one year of the Superloop network in June 2024. Data shows that average growth on all Superloop routes since June 2023 was 9 per cent higher than the network average. Ridership on the first Superloop route – the SL8 from Uxbridge to White City – increased by 18 per cent in its first year. The 138km Superloop network connects key locations across outer London, adding more than 6 million bus kilometres per year to the capital's network. The network continues to grow: in January 2025, a consultation launched on the proposed ‘Bakerloop’ service, followed by two further consultations in March on the SL11 between Abbey Wood and North Greenwich and the SL12 between Rainham, Ferry Lane and Gants Hill. 
  • This year, the Mayor and TfL took further steps to reduce road collision harm. This included strengthening the HGV Direct Vision Standard, which has helped reduce the number of vulnerable road users killed by an HGV; and a commitment to make permanent a pilot scheme, offering enhanced support for victims of the most serious road traffic collisions in London. TfL continued delivery of the Safer Junctions programme, completing work on 45 junctions by 2025 and starting work on key junctions at Lambeth Bridge and Battersea Bridge. 
  • TfL launched a new plan to improve toilet provision on the network in October. The plan set out how the Mayor’s biggest ever dedicated investment in toilet provision on the network – £3m per year over five years – will be spent on new toilet provision and retrofitting existing toilets to make them accessible for all. This is the latest step in TfL’s ‘Equity in Motion’ plan, which this year also saw direct step-free access to the Bakerloo Line for the first time at Paddington; and construction on step-free access projects at Northolt, Surrey Quays, Leyton and Colindale. TfL has also confirmed design work is under way for three more Piccadilly Line stations to become step-free: Alperton, Arnos Grove and Eastcote. 
  • The Mayor launched six new London Overground line names and colours in November. These make the Overground network easier for customers to navigate, whilst celebrating London’s diverse culture and history.
  • In December, the Mayor confirmed his fares package for 2025-26, including a historic sixth freeze to bus and tram fares. It meant Londoners will be paying the same – £1.75 – for bus and tram journeys in March 2026 as in March 2023, keeping fares among the lowest in the UK and increasing the benefits of the Hopper bus fare. The fare freeze particularly supports lower-income and disabled Londoners, who are more likely to use bus and tram services.
  • In December, TfL confirmed a package of discounts and concessions for user charges at the new Silvertown Tunnel and the existing Blackwall Tunnel. This measure will help residents and businesses, and support the use of new transport connections. Concessions include a 50 per cent user charge discount, available for low-income residents in 12 boroughs across east and south east London, and in the City of London. Bus journeys made on three cross-river routes serving Newham, Tower Hamlets and Greenwich, and cross-river journeys on the DLR, are free for at least one year. A 'cycle shuttle’ service, also free for at least one year, will allow people with cycles to safely cross the river via a high-frequency, bespoke bus service between Silvertown and North Greenwich.
  • Passenger information this year showed that more than 500m passenger journeys have been made on the Elizabeth line in its first two-and-a-half years, making it the single busiest railway service in the UK. Analysis by TfL and Arup also showed the Elizabeth line’s positive economic impact, with an 11 per cent increase in access to employment around the Abbey Wood branch and 378,000 jobs created within one kilometre of Elizabeth line stations. There has also been an increase in housing growth within one kilometre of an Elizabeth line station: growth in east London rose by 14 per cent between 2017 and 2022. 
  • In the summer, TfL confirmed it had met its pledge to double the number of wildflower verges on its roadsides. There are now 260,000 sqm of wildflower verges across TfL’s road network – equivalent to 37 football pitches – encouraging biodiversity and enabling more carbon to be stored in the soil.

Air quality

  • The Mayor has invested £2.7m to provide 200 primary schools across London with indoor air-quality filters for every classroom. The programme prioritises areas of poorer air quality and higher deprivation. These air filters will help both staff and pupils breathe cleaner air, and help us in our mission to clean up London’s air.
  • Publication of new evidence revealed that all Londoners are now breathing cleaner air following the first year of the ULEZ. The report covers the first year of the newly expanded scheme, and provides analysis of air pollutant emissions and concentrations; vehicle compliance; traffic; population exposure; and economic impact. The findings indicate that the Mayor’s air-quality policies are having an important impact on reducing the number of older, more polluting vehicles seen driving in London, and the levels of harmful air pollution that Londoners are exposed to.
  • On 1 January 2025 the Non-Road Mobile Machinery (NRMM) Low Emission Zone (LEZ) Standards were tightened. The Mayor’s NRMM LEZ has been successful in driving the deployment of cleaner machinery, resulting in significantly reduced annual emissions.
  • TfL’s work to decarbonise its bus network continues. There are now more than 2,000 zero-emission buses in its fleet: one in five.
  • London is leading the way with EV charging infrastructure. As of March 2025, London has over 23,000 public charge points – a third of the UK’s total. 
  • To date, the Mayor’s Breathe London network has helped install more than 450 local air-quality sensors around London, including more than 50 in the last year. These provide real-time air-quality information to communities to keep them informed about pollution in their area. We have recently committed £1.4m funding to the next phase of Breathe London. This will expand the scope of data provision to include engagement activities for schools, hospitals and local authorities, to further raise awareness and provide the necessary tools to empower Londoners to reduce their exposure and advocate for local action.

Connectivity

  • As of January 2025, Ofcom reports that 71 per cent of premises in London are connected with full-fibre infrastructure, and 89 per cent are able to receive gigabit-capable speeds. Across London, 1.42 per cent of premises are served by copper-only infrastructure, known as not-spots. Ofcom also states that nearly 100 per cent of London has 4G coverage; and reports a very high confidence that 61 per cent has 5G coverage. 
  • The Mayor’s flagship digital inclusion service, Get Online London (delivered by the London Office of Technology and Innovation, and the Good Things Foundation) has been extended for an additional 18 months using funding secured by the Mayor, from the Department for Digital Science, Innovation and Technology. The service has established 1,230 hubs across London. These hubs provide digitally excluded Londoners with data, a device and or digital skills training. Data from the Good Things Foundation shows that over 68,000 Londoners have received direct support; and an additional 242,774 Londoners have benefitted indirectly through improved household access as a result of the programme.
  • The Mayor and TfL continue their work to connect the London Underground with mobile infrastructure. As of the end of March 2025, launches have been made on 53 London Underground and Elizabeth line stations, and 65 tunnel sections. This is 39 per cent of all stations with underground platforms, and 31 per cent of tunnels, to be delivered as part of this project. In total, 72 per cent of all stations on the London Underground network now have mobile coverage available.
  • The Mayor’s Connected London programme has successfully delivered full-fibre connectivity to 806 public sites, including CCTV installations, community centres and council buildings. This initiative enhances digital services for Londoners by bringing fibre directly into neighbourhoods. The network, to which the Mayor has allocated £16m of grant funding, plans to connect another 200 public-sector sites in 2025. A key feature of this programme is the significant upgrade to London’s CCTV network. These enhancements not only improve digital services, but also support public safety by providing clearer footage and reducing delays in control rooms. The improved CCTV network is a crucial part of the Mayor's ongoing efforts to make London safer for everyone.

Infrastructure 

The Mayor’s Infrastructure Coordination Service (ICS) continued to deliver across all three service lines (Streets, Planning and Development), reducing road disruption while supporting delivery and London's long-term infrastructure planning needs. It has achieved the following: 

  • Accelerated collaborative street works on four GLA-led projects (saving Londoners over 105 days of disruption), in addition to a further 14 projects supported by the GLA (saving Londoners 115 days of disruption). These collaborative efforts have saved approximately four tonnes of CO2, contributing to the reduction of air pollution.  
  • Tackled electricity capacity challenges in west London, through the Mayor’s convening power. Working with the electricity sector, Ofgem, boroughs and the government, the ICS implemented short and medium-term solutions allowing many affordable housing schemes to progress where they would otherwise have stalled. Since April 2024, ICS has helped unlock over 3,300 permitted new homes; this represents almost the full pipeline of stalled permitted housing in the affected area that the GLA is currently aware of. In total, 11,600 homes have now been unlocked through ongoing GLA support, introducing innovative solutions through London's electricity networks. The ICS continues to convene partners, to work towards longer-term issue solutions.
  • Successfully convened boroughs and energy networks to deliver subregional Local Area Energy Plans (LAEPs)s in west, north and south London – and commenced work on a sub-regional LAEP in east London. Subregional LAEPs are funded by the Mayor, ensuring all areas of London are better prepared to support new, affordable housing delivery and decarbonisation, translating the Mayor’s net-zero target into action. The GLA also launched the LAEP DataHub, an innovative digital platform which hosts and visualises data relevant to local area energy planning. The LAEP DataHub will support local authorities to meet their net zero and decarbonisation targets by providing a consistent evidence base and promoting collaboration across the sector.
  • The Mayor continues to work with his London Infrastructure Group (LIG). This comprises senior executives from across infrastructure providers, regulators, the government and wider industry. The LIG has committed to working collaboratively toward the Mayor’s goal of net zero by 2030. It continues to review key blockers and opportunities facing the sector.
  • The Mayor has continued to convene two diverse panels to support his work on infrastructure – the Mayor’s Infrastructure Advisory Panel and his Young Professionals Panel. These bring together a diverse leader range in infrastructure and development sectors. Panel members share key aims, addressing the sector’s lack of diversity. They do so by offering a platform for innovative ideas to be brought forward by highly skilled (but often under-represented) women and ethnic minority professionals.

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