£1.2m plan announced to tackle knife crime in schools
A Government scheme to ‘tackle the root of knife crime’ in schools is “a step in the right direction,” says the mum of a murdered Sheffield schoolboy.
A £1.2m investment is planned to provide specialist training in up to 250 schools in UK areas most affected by knife crime, with 50 of them receiving “more intensive and tailored” support.
£26 million will be ploughed into a Knife Crime Concentrations Fund as part of the “Saving Lives, Building Hope” plan announced on April 7, with extra money for the 27 police forces in England and Wales that deal with 90 per cent of UK knife crime.
Measures include mentoring for high-risk students and the deployment of chaperones on school routes.
The announcement follows after the murder of 15-year-old Harvey Willgoose, who was stabbed to death by Mohammed ‘Umar’ Khan, also aged 15, at All Saints Catholic High School, Sheffield, in February 2025.
Harvey’s mother, Caroline, who has dedicated herself to anti knife crime campaigning since her son’s death, called the funding “not enough - but a sign we are being listened to.”
“I feel like we’re getting somewhere,” Caroline told The Star.
“It’s not enough and it’s not enough schools, but we’ve to start somewhere, and schools are the place to start.”
It is not stated if any of the 250 schools targeted will be in South Yorkshire.
However, the report highlights how 80 per cent of knife crime comes under just 20 of the UK’s 48 police forces, including South Yorkshire Police.
50 per cent of all knife crime is reported under just five police forces - Metropolitan, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and West Midlands.
Caroline said: “The report says about chaperones [a plan for staff to escort high risk and vulnerable pupils after school] but we’ve got to get people into the schools.
“I was invited to a Y8 class in Birmingham and they really engaged with me when I spoke about it from the other side - how it had ruined Umar’s life.
“One moment of anger or stupid decision is all it took, and now he has a horrible life.
“It disappoints me that they are targeting schools, when it should be all schools. But they are starting somewhere and they realise it’s a problem.”
Policing minister Sarah Jones said: "Knife crime devastates lives and families across the country, and the majority of it takes place on just a small number of streets across the country.
"We will deploy state-of-the-art mapping to identify these hot spots and target them with police patrols, live facial recognition and knife arches to catch these criminals.
"This Government will halve knife crime within a decade, saving lives and protecting communities."
Meanwhile, the Government claims precise mapping data that can pinpoint a ‘knife crime hotspot’ down to a 10m2 area and backed by £26m in funding, will be used in the crackdown.
The mapping system is reportedly able to pinpoint knife crime hot spots down to a 10m x 10m area, and the times it is most likely to occur.
These areas will then see increased police patrols, new CCTV cameras, live facial recognition and knife detection arches.
The crackdown comes as part of a wider programme aimed at halving knife crime over a decade.
Ministers are also rolling out a new generation of youth centres as part of a plan called Protecting Lives, Building Hope.
The eight hubs will be based in Birmingham, Brighton and Hove, Bristol, County Durham, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, and Tower Hamlets.
They will be the first among 50 which will eventually be rolled out across England.