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Serious violence in London

  • James Stott
  • 1 hour ago
  • 2 min read

Consulting Report

James Stott, Head of Strategy and Insight


Wednesday 13 June 2025



What we did


Commissioned by the London’s Violence Reduction Unit, Crest carried out a pan-London Strategic Needs Assessment (SNA) of Serious Violence in London. The research was broken into distinct phases, with key outputs including:


  • A quantitative profile of serious violence in London (an overview of what was included can be found in the Annex)

  • An SNA Review document to facilitate standardisation across London in line with the Serious Violence Duty

  • A ‘What Works’ Index for evidence around violence reduction with external links, aligned to the VRU Evidence Hub

  • Partnership roundtables and interviews, bringing together key stakeholders across the sector (including the VCS, young people, local authorities and delivery partners) to review the findings and develop recommendations

  • This final report, which pulls together key insights from all of the above


Key findings on violence and its drivers


  • Every day, serious violence affecting children and young people in London costs over £3.3 million.

  • Serious violence continues to be heavily geographically concentrated, mostly in areas of high deprivation.

  • Whilst the majority of suspects of violence and exploitation continue to be male, the proportion of female suspects has increased since 2019.

  • There is a clear disproportionality in the way in which Londoners are affected by serious violence, with Black Londoners overrepresented as both victims and suspects, particularly Black women as victims.

  • Beyond the scale of serious violence, the vulnerability of people and communities to violence continues to present a challenge.

  • Deprivation and the cost-of-living have put particular pressure on communities in London.


Key findings on the response


  • In the face of challenges presented by serious violence and its causes, there has been a significant investment to respond, led by London’s VRU

  • The VRU has played an important role as a convenor of partners from across local authorities, communities and young people, health, education and police, but there are areas where collaboration can go further.

  • The VRU could also go further to ensure the right people inform decision-making, including non-statutory partners and the wider community

  • Public services are under an increasing financial strain, affecting the ability of partners to respond preventively and work together effectively.

  • The approach in London – with continued support and investment from the Mayor - remains a long-term one - but has been built upon a strong foundation

  • The new government has committed to halving knife crime over the next decade, ensuring the ongoing relevance of the serious violence agenda, and the opportunities presented by new Young Futures Prevention Partnerships should be seized


We have made 18 recommendations based on these findings to the VRU, London boroughs and wider partnerships that we hope will support an improved response to serious violence in the capital.



James is our Head of Strategy and Insights and has experience managing projects across violence reduction, justice policy and governance.


If you would like to discuss this research please contact him on james.stott@crestadvisory.com

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