South Yorkshire’s Violence Reduction Unit to continue with provisional funding for three years

South Yorkshire’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) has been provisionally awarded a three-year funding deal, to continue the scheme’s work reducing violence in the area until March 2025, the Minister of State for Crime and Policing has announced.
Danielle Andrews
By Danielle Andrews
Published 4th Apr 2022, 12:39 BST
Updated 4th Apr 2022, 15:10 BST
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The unit is set to receive £2.89m in year one, followed by £2.16m in year two, and £2.14m in year three.

The unit has previously received £1.6m in each financial year since it was formed in September 2019.

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Graham Jones, head of the South Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit, said: “At the South Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit, our ambition is to work in partnership with organisations and communities to understand what drives violence, and identify opportunities to prevent and reduce it.Graham Jones, head of the South Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit, said: “At the South Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit, our ambition is to work in partnership with organisations and communities to understand what drives violence, and identify opportunities to prevent and reduce it.
Graham Jones, head of the South Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit, said: “At the South Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit, our ambition is to work in partnership with organisations and communities to understand what drives violence, and identify opportunities to prevent and reduce it.
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The funding will allow the unit to build on its previous work to understand why and how people get drawn into violence or become the subject of violence.

It will allow the unit to carry on funding initiatives such as the A&E Navigator and Custody Navigator programmes, where trained professionals provide support to those in A&E departments and custody cells who have been affected by or involved in serious violence.

Kit Malthouse, Minister of State for Crime and Policing, said: “The very worst part of my job is hearing from families who have lost loved ones to violence and finding out that something could have been done to prevent it.

MORE: How A&E and custody navigators are helping to break the cycle of violence in South Yorkshire

“We must do more to reach those at risk of violence early on to break the cycle of crime. Only then will we truly level up the country and give everyone the security of a safe street and home.”

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Graham Jones, head of the South Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit, said: “I welcome the new funding provisionally announced today, which provides not just an uplift in support but funding for three years.

“This will allow the Violence Reduction Unit to plan ahead as we take a long-term approach to tackling violence in South Yorkshire.”

Dr Alan Billings, South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, said: “I’m pleased to have provisionally secured this three year funding settlement, which allows the South Yorkshire Violence Reduction Unit to continue its important work on addressing issues such as Violence Against Women and Girls, domestic abuse, spiking, and knife crime.

“The VRU is a partnership, bringing together the local authorities, the police, the NHS, youth offending teams, the faith and voluntary sectors, and many others from across the whole of the county. Together over the next three years we will take significant steps in reducing violence and enhancing the safety of us all.”