Decision details

The reasons for the decision are:

Manchester and Salford collectively account for 26% of all mapped Serious and Organised Crime threats in Greater Manchester. Many of the organised crime groups in Manchester are very well established, are involved in very serious criminality involving illegal drugs, weapons, extortion and exploitation and many have the capability of committing extremely high levels of violence against other people.

The multi-agency Challenger team in Manchester have very strong and clear governance arrangements in place and each has a comprehensive serious and organised crime 4P plan (prepare, Prevent, Pursue, Protect) as part of their local community safety partnership arrangements.

This funding is available to contribute with the delivery of their serious and organised crime 4P plan, on the following conditions agreed with Manchester City Council:
- It is at least match funded by a contribution from the community safety partnership.
- It adds value to existing services rather than replacing funding that has been withdrawn.
- There is a clear spending plan with a focus on performance in relation to outputs and outcomes.
- Their serious and organised crime governance arrangements oversee the spending to ensure it achieves its stated goals.
- They have undertaken appropriate procurement of commissioning processes

By targeted this spending to Manchester’s hot spot locations for serious and organised crime, the impact of this spending on organised crime and serious violence will be greater than if the total funding was spread across ten districts. The strong leadership and governance in relation to serious and organised crime in those two districts of GM provide confidence that that there will be clear accountability and oversight of this spending locally, with a commitment to ensuring performance measures are recorded and reported appropriately.

For 2023/24, Manchester City Council has allocated the funding to contribute to the delivery of commissioned services to provide 1-1 mentoring for children at risk of serious violence, child criminal exploitation and child sexual exploitation, which is often driven by serious and organised crime.

£7,500 will be allocated to Manchester City Council to contribute to targeted activity in response to serious and organised crime (SOC) for 2023/24.