Greater Manchester has been given an extra £1 million in funding to help tackle the rise in violent crime across the region.
In a crucial attempt to help people leave a life of violent crime behind them, Greater Manchester’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) has received a significant funding boost to help it develop and trial a new programme in the city of Manchester and beyond.
Part of a wider £6 million joint investment, and expecting to take inspiration from a ‘focused deterrence’ strategy developed over in the US, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) explains that the new trial programme will attempt to identify the people most likely to be involved in violence and supports them to stop.
Previous projects have worked with children as young as 14 or 15.
Prior research has shown that focused deterrence strategies in other countries have been highly effective, and have reduced crime on average by 33%.
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"Greater Manchester’s VRU has received £1million in funding to develop and trial a new programme in the city of Manchester which aims to help people leave a life of violent crime behind them."
— Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit (@GM_VRU) September 5, 2022
As the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) and Home Office are said to be investing in learning more about what impact focused deterrence could have in England, Greater Manchester’s VRU has been awarded £1 million to develop the trial programme and learn how it works to make Manchester safer.
It will bring together a number of different agencies and community groups, including Greater Manchester Police (GMP), housing providers, faith leaders and schools, to take a partnership approach to ending violence.
“I’m really pleased that the city of Manchester is set to receive this funding so we can trial a new, innovative approach that has achieved success in other countries in preventing people from committing violent crimes,” explained Bev Hughes – Greater Manchester’s Deputy Mayor for policing, crime, criminal justice, and fire.
Greater Manchester given £1 million in funding to tackle ‘violent crime’ in the region / Credit: GMP
“If this project is able to impact just one person in the city of Manchester, then it has potentially saved a life.
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“This will build on the work our Violence Reduction Unit is already carrying out across our city region to engage with people and prevent these terrible crimes from being committed as we see far too often the devastating consequences they have on our communities and those who lose loved ones to shocking incidents which are sadly preventable.
“We must do all we can to tackle these issues, and this approach which combines support with swift enforcement action, is another way we can now do that.”
Greater Manchester public urged to help get people ‘off the streets and on their feet’ before Christmas
Emily Sergeant
Locals are being urged to help get hundreds of people “off the streets and back on their feet” this festive season.
As the temperatures told colder by the day, and Christmas creeps closer and closer, Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity is bringing back ‘1000 Beds for Christmas’, and the massively-important initiative is aiming to provide 1,000 nights of accommodation to people at risk of homelessness before the big day arrives.
Forming part of the ongoing ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme, this festive fundraising mission is designed to provide food, shelter, warmth, and dedicated vital wrap-around support for those who need it most.
The charity says it wants to build on the “incredible success of 2023”, which raised more than £55,000 and provided 1,800 nights of accommodation.
Stockport-based property finance specialists, Together – which has supported the campaign for the last two years – has, once again, generously pledged to match every public donation for the first £20,000 raised.
Unfamiliar with the ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme? Since 2017, when rough sleeping peaked, the initiative has helped ensure a significantly-higher rate of reduction in the numbers of people facing a night on streets in Greater Manchester than seen nationally.
The landmark scheme has given people the chance to rebuild their lives, while also giving them access to key services and opportunities that allows them to stay off the streets for good.
Despite the scheme’s recent success, organisations across Greater Manchester are under “a huge amount of pressure” to meet the demand for their services this winter, and given the current economic outlook, household budgets will continue to be squeezed – leaving people on the sharp end of inequality and poverty.
Emily Sergeant -
6th September 2022 
