Decision details

Since its establishment in 2019, the GM VRU have devolved a large proportion of the Home Office Serious Violence Funding to the 10 GM CSPs, to utilise their existing partnerships and community knowledge to address SV within their local areas.

In the 2022/23, the CSP funded activities resulted in interventions being delivered to over 40,000 Young People across GM. The GM VRU intends to continue funding the positive work being delivered by the CSPs by providing funding for a further 2 years.

Whereas previous funding has only been agreed for a 12-month period, the recent Home Office funding settlement up to March 2025 has enabled us to allocate funding for 2023/24 and 2024/25, which will allow for longer term sustainable interventions and improved evaluation. In addition, the Serious Violence Duty has attracted ‘burden’ funding for the same 2 year period, to be allocated to CSPs (who represent the Specified Authorities in their locality.)

In April 2023, the GM VRU will be writing to the 10GM CSPs to announce that £150,000 funding would be made available (£200,000 for MCC) for each of the 2 years, from the Serious Violence funding, under the condition that a spending plan be completed and submitted, with the endorsement of their respective Directors of Children Services and Public Health, for the approval of the GM VRU. This letter will also include the SVD funding as outlined in the decisions section of this notice.

It is an expectation of the GM VRU that outcomes and activities commissioned by the CSPs should be monitored locally and reported back to the GM VRU. Furthermore, the CSPs were asked to ensure that the programmes and services commissioned for 2023/2024 are in line with the following areas of need which continue to feature within the VRU Strategic Needs Assessment:
Child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing.
Children and young people in Alternative Provision, at risk of exclusion or not accessing education, particularly where violence has been identified as a cause for concern.
Adverse childhood experiences and trauma-responsive activity.
Adolescent early help services, including drugs and alcohol services.
Youth engagement and provision, including community sports.
Support for parents who are concerned about their child becoming a victim or perpetrator of violent crime.
Transition for children and young people between primary schools, secondary schools and further education

As well as the above areas, the GM VRU also expected districts to apply following:
• Be data led by making full use of the GMCA VRU Violence Dashboard and Strategic Needs Assessment.
• Ensure that a minimum of 30% of funding is spent on ‘high impact’ interventions as defined by the Youth Endowment Fund Toolkit.
• Employ the principles of community-led approaches where opportunity presents, including co-designing and planning. Where community-led programmes exist within your area, we would encourage you to consider investing in successful initiatives which are being delivered by grass root organisations.
• Maintain positive and aspirational language in young person campaigns and avoid deterrent-based approaches (such as ‘scared straight’)
• Monitoring reports must be submitted to the VRU by Mid-October 2023 and April 2024 (and replicated for 2024/25) using the proforma requested by the VRU.
• Staff training to support delivery is allowed.
• Whilst funding of posts for violence reduction managers or front-line delivery workers is appropriate, administrative or analytical work should be absorbed within existing structures.
• Consider 15% match funding per intervention and report where achieved.

The reporting for the SVD is similar to the core grant reporting requirements, however with a quarterly frequency. This has been communicated to and agreed by CSPs and respective Specified Authority partners and an appropriate template provided.

The Deputy Mayor agrees to award each Greater Manchester Community Safety Partnership (CSP) the below funding as part of the Devolved 2023/24 and 2024/25 GM Violence Reduction Unit Serious Violence Funding and separate 2023/24 and 2024/25 Serious Violence Duty ‘burden’ funding.

CSP Devolved Funding £1,550,000 (2023/24 AND 2024/25)
The GM VRU has agreed to continue to devolve £150,000 (£200,000 to the City of Manchester) to the 10 CSP areas across GM. The funding will be granted on the condition that the individual CSP plans are aligned to the wider strategic priorities of their authority and partners and are co-signed by Directors of Children’s Services and Population Health.
In addition – Serious Violence Duty ‘burden’ funding as below.
Serious Violence Duty – Labour costs 2023/24 £11,182 & MCC £14,917
2024/25 - £9,858, MCC £13,142
Serious Violence Duty – Non -Labour costs 2023/24, £15,966 &
MCC £21,294
2024/25 £8,098, MCC £10,798

2023/24 Serious Violence total funding amount to be devolved to CSPs: £1,830,543
2024/25 Serious Violence total funding amount to be devolved to CSPs: £1,735,544