A new report looking into the complex causes and impact of violence in London has revealed that violent incidents cost the capital £3 billion last year.

The report was part of the first ever capital-wide assessment of violence and an in-depth look at the reviews that take place after each specific homicide, commissioned by London’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) to inform their work. The two new separate studies combined provide a map of violence that will help to determine where to deliver early, targeted interventions to reduce the spread of violence across the city.

New figures in the report show that alongside the tragic loss of life and misery experienced by families and communities, the economic impact to the capital is also substantial. Costs in 2018/19 for responding to homicides, violence offences, sexual offences and robbery, together with the loss of economic output was £3bn*.

Specific case reviews are carried out by an independent Chair, supported by the police, local authorities, health providers and probation services, to help better understand the broad circumstances of an incident. This piece of work, the first of its kind in London, focused on all of the reviews published since January 2016, bringing together domestic homicide reviews, serious case reviews (when a child or vulnerable adult dies or is seriously injured when abuse or neglect are thought to have been involved), safeguarding adults reviews and mental health homicide reviews.

The reviews found that:

• Violence has become more serious, more frequent and driven by use of knives. Additional VRU data shows that there has been a 47 per cent increase in knife-related homicides since 2016, while between 2013/14 and 2017/18, hospital admissions for assaults with a sharp object increased by 32 per cent.
• A highly localised approach – even down to specific roads and estates – is essential to understanding and responding to violence.
• The deprivation of certain London neighbourhoods and vulnerability to gang-related criminality is deep-seated. The report cites London School of Economics research which shows that more than half of all the poorest neighbourhoods were also the poorest 100 years ago, and targets for criminal gangs operating in areas with high levels of deprivation.
• Community and social cohesion are important tools in keeping neighbourhoods safe.
• The report recommends supporting schools to do more to protect young people from exposure to gangs, and reducing exclusions.
• Domestic abuse features in a high proportion of reviews, and is recognised as a form of trauma, particularly for a young person.
• The impact of Government cuts are likely to have increased the vulnerability of some neighbourhoods to violence. Between 2011/12 and 2018/19, 46 per cent of funding for London’s youth services was withdrawn. A reduction in police officer numbers has impacted on the police’s ability to disrupt and deter violence.
• The drugs market has become more lucrative which has increased competition between criminal gangs. The darknet and its expansion has increased competition in drugs market.

The VRU, which was set up by the Mayor of London in September 2018, has already been focusing much of its funding on programmes to tackle these issues. So far, the majority of the VRU’s £14.8m has been invested in programmes to tackle school exclusions, community programmes offering positive opportunities for young people. The number of youth workers in hospital A&Es and major trauma centres has also increased.

In response to the findings of the studies, the VRU will be directing £12m of new funding in 2020/2021, secured from investment from the Mayor and the Home Office, in targeted programmes and initiatives. This includes a proposal to direct funding to a new violence reduction programme that delivers interventions in specific local neighbourhoods and estates that are areas identified as most prone to violence.

The purpose of the homicide studies was to examine what we can learn from the reviews that do exist, but local Serious Case Reviews are only carried out following the death of a young person under-18 due to abuse or neglect – violence is currently not a requirement. As a result, only four serious case reviews of serious youth violence were published since 2016, at a time when there have been 120 homicides in the capital. The VRU believes there should be a review covering all homicides and will be writing to the Home Office and the NHS to widen the scope of statutory reviews to help build a better picture of serious youth violence in London and provide greater transparency for victims.

It comes ahead of a speech the Mayor will be making at a ‘Dealing With Violence’ conference on Friday, where he will outline the action he is taking to get tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime. The Mayor will say London cannot deal with rising violent crime simply by trying to ‘arrest its way out of this problem’, but rather needs to focus on systematically addressing the underlying issues behind it. The causes of violent crime are deeply complex, he will argue, but have been made far worse by Government cuts to the police, youth centres, mental health services, after-school clubs and councils.