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Home - How can we help? - Funding a community project - Apply for the Serious Violence Duty – Prevention and Early Intervention Fund

Apply for the Serious Violence Duty – Prevention and Early Intervention Fund

Prevention and Early Intervention Fund
Grants up to £40,000 are available to support ongoing or new initiatives that address serious violence in their area.

Closing date for applications is midday Thursday 19 October 2023.

Background

The Duty, introduced in January 2023, requires the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner to convene partners including North Yorkshire Police, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Probation services, North Yorkshire Council, City of York Council and the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board to work together to prevent and reduce Serious Violence that occurs in the area, develop a Strategic Needs Assessment (SNA) and implement a Response Strategy to address it.

The full national guidance can be found here:  Serious Violence Duty – Statutory Guidance (publishing.service.gov.uk)

North Yorkshire and York Approach

The aims of the North Yorkshire and York response to Serious Violence are:

  • To understand the extent of violence throughout North Yorkshire and York, through the analysis of characteristics, patterns of behaviour and the impact on the wider community.
  • To establish the risk factors that increase the likelihood of violence, and how these factors can be reduced through prevention, diversion, and early intervention.
  • To establish effective interventions in a variety of settings and monitor the impact on reducing serious violence these interventions produce.

Definition 

There is no set definition of Serious Violent Crime, and so for the purpose of the Serious Violence Duty, the local definition will reflect the issues found within North Yorkshire and York.

For the most recent Serious Violence Strategy, the Home Office (HO) chose to focus on Homicide, Knife Crime and Firearms Offences, and has outlined three key success measures for the reduction of violence:

  1. A reduction in hospital admissions for assaults with a knife or sharp object and especially among those victims aged under 25.
  2. A reduction in knife-enabled serious violence and especially among those victims aged under 25.
  3. A reduction in all non-domestic homicides and especially among those victims aged under 25 involving knives.

Our view is that there is value in broadening out the definition, to include other forms of violent offences and areas of thematic interest; offences and issues, which feature in North Yorkshire and York, more heavily than those highlighted in the national Serious Violence Strategy.  Therefore, for the purpose of the North Yorkshire and York Strategic Needs Assessment (SNA), the following crimes will be included in our definition of Serious Violence:

  • Homicide
  • Violence with Injury; including attempted murder, endangering life, and wounding with intent
  • Domestic Abuse
  • Rape and Sexual Offences
  • Weapon Related Violence, including Weapon Possession
  • Arson Endangering Life 

In addition, the following areas of Thematic Interest will be considered within the wider profile:

  • Prevention, Diversion and Early Intervention
  • Domestic Abuse
  • Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)
  • Young People
  • Robbery, Theft and Burglary
  • Stalking and Harassment (non-domestic)
  • Drug related offences
  • Offences against Emergency workers
  • Alcohol and substance misuse

SVD Prevention and Early Intervention Fund Grant Programme Summary

The Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire, (The Commissioner), together with statutory partners, is committed to a commissioning approach to support the SVD strategy, through investing in evidence-based initiatives at a local level, which aim to reduce serious violence and achieve positive outcomes for individuals and communities.

Projects/initiatives must support a pro-active, sustainable, outcomes focused approach to prevention, early intervention and diversion from serious violence, addressing risk of and / or (re)-offending, (re)-victimisation or priority community locations, using one of the following activity types:

  • Universal Awareness Raising / Prevention / Education-based activity to young people
  • Universal Awareness Raising / Prevention / Education-based activity to adults
  • Training (professionals and / or community) activity
  • Targeted Diversionary activity (non-sport)
  • Targeted Diversionary activity (sport)
  • Therapeutic activity
  • Targeted Early Intervention Accommodation
  • Targeted Early Intervention Education, Employment and Training
  • Targeted Early Intervention Emotional Health
  • Targeted Positive Relationship(s) activity
  • Targeted Parenting Programme
  • Targeted Community / Location activity
  • Targeted Desistance activity to stop (re)offending
  • Weapon amnesty

Finance and Timescales for Project Delivery

Home Office funding is being made available during 2023-24 and 2024-25 and must be spent by 31 March 2025:

  • The maximum amount per application is £40,000.00.
  • Funds spent must match project deliverye. If your project will be delivered from January 2024 – January 2025, Quarterly spend and activity must also take place and be complete within that time and within the relevant Quarter.
  • Please highlight this in the Timescales section within the application form. 

Eligibility

Any community group, organisation, or individual linked to an organisation can apply for this funding, however the proposed project/initiative:

  • must benefit North Yorkshire / York communities directly;
  • explain how the project adds value;
  • evidence how the project links to the Serious Violence Duty priorities;
  • be fully supported by the appropriate Community Safety Partnership; (Safer York Partnership [SYP] or North Yorkshire Community Safety Partnership [NYCSP]), specific to where the project/initiative will be delivered. 

Contact details for each Community Safety Partnership are provided towards the end of this page.

Points to consider before completing your application form

The application form provides you with the opportunity to present your project to the funding panel and evidence how it will support North Yorkshire / York to address serious violence.  Outlined below are the key pieces of information required to be included, in order to maximise the chance of success. 

All applications should include measurable outcomes and demonstrate how they add value or address a gap in delivery.  Applications are most likely to be successful if they evidence how they will deliver positive change in relation to one or more of the key serious violence priorities; clearly identify one or more of the beneficiary groups stated; clearly state how they support links with Community Safety teams and evidence how they will deliver positive outcomes for beneficiaries of the project/initiative.

Partnership applications are encouraged.  It is key that all projects support the local Community Safety teams across North Yorkshire and City of York and must have relevant sign-off prior to submission.

The final funding decision rests with the panel / PFCC if required.

North Yorkshire and York Strategic Needs Assessment (SNA)

The North Yorkshire and York SNA is in the process of being written, however will be adopting a Public Health Approach.  A public health approach is defined by using data, intelligence, and case studies to identify the extend of serious violence and what impact this has on perpetrators, victims of crime, and the wider community. In using this approach, interventions are not constrained by organisational or professional boundaries and focus on improving population health and wellbeing through long term solutions.

Serious Violence can be prevented, and through the reduction of risk factors in common public health issues, this can be sustainable. Due to the wide range of issues which contribute to serious violence, a public health approach naturally lends itself to the problem.

Public Health England’s public health approach to serious violence identifies the ‘5 C’s approach’ – collaboration, co-production, cooperation in data and intelligence sharing, counter-narrative, and community consensus. This approach will be applied within the North Yorkshire Serious Violence Duty.

Three levels of prevention are identified and can be applied to different cohorts of offenders or potential offenders. A high-risk cohort requires a reduction in offending and tertiary prevention, the at-risk cohort requires early intervention and therefore secondary intervention, and the low-risk cohort needs primary prevention. 

Primary prevention Preventing the problem occurring in the first place.
Secondary prevention Intervening early when the problem emerges.
Tertiary prevention Managing the problem and reducing harmful consequences.

Police and Crime Plan

The Police and Crime plan, which all Police Commissioners must produce, sets out the vision and priorities for policing and community safety, as well as the objectives and ambitions that the Chief Constable will be held to account against.

North Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Plan 2022 – 25, is an evidence-based plan, informed by the public’s identified priorities.  A consultation, undertaken by the Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (OPFCC) engaged with over 3,500 people and over 2,000 responded to the survey.  The subsequent plan aims to respond to the concerns raised, while setting expectations for North Yorkshire Police to achieve.

Key priorities raised through consultation included public safety, with a particular focus on the safety of women and girls, violence, serious and organised crime, especially those crimes linked to drugs and county lines, crime prevention and police visibility in communities.

The full Police and Crime Plan for North Yorkshire can be found here:  Police & Crime Plan 2022.cdr (northyorkshire-pfcc.gov.uk)

Application Form Guidance

Project Details 

New / existing project (150 words):  your response to this should identify if your project is new or existing.  If your project is new, the response should explain how the proposal addresses a gap in delivery; what will this project do that existing services don’t?  If your project is existing, the response should explain how this funding will add value and expand or develop the project further.  

Explanation of your project and what you hope to achieve (300 words): your response to this question should describe your project in detail (referencing the Serious Violence aims and priorities that it will support) and including;

  • how your project adds value or addresses a gap;
  • what you hope to achieve overall and how;
  • who will deliver your project;
  • who the project is aimed at supporting i.e. who will benefit most from your project (referring to the specific targeted groups it will support, how the project participants will be identified, targeted and referred into the project, how many people the project hopes to support);
    • For example, if your project is to deliver a diversionary activity to a targeted group of young people, how will you ensure the right young people are identified to access and engage in the activity?
  • Timescales.

How will the project deliver against the North Yorkshire and York SVD key priorities? (150 words): your response to this question should explain how it will address the Serious Violence aims and priorities it is focusing on.  What activities / interventions will be delivered that are linked to the priorities and how will this be achieved?

Explanation of need and demand, with evidence (200 words): your response to this question should include what has led you to submit the application; what specific priorities and issues relating to serious violence your project is trying to address;

  • how you know this project/initiative is needed i.e. what evidence you have that there is local need and demand for this service and how you know this;
  • outline the level of demand e.g. any information you have regarding the number of people in need (referring to the beneficiary groups and serious violence priorities that it will support);
  • Consider if your scheme links in with other projects or partners. If it does, how will your project address a gap or add value?

Beneficiaries

Beneficiaries; those taking part in the project/initiative you are proposing to deliver must include one or more of the following groups:

  • Individuals / groups not involved in offending activity; project targeted at specific location / community
  • Individuals / groups at risk of offending in relation to Serious Violence
    • Identify if high risk
  • Individuals / groups involved in offending in relation to Serious Violence
  • Individuals / groups at risk of becoming a victim in relation to Serious Violence
  • Individuals / groups at risk of repeat victimisation in relation to Serious Violence

Identify and explain how the groups above will benefit from the project: (100 words maximum per category): your response should include how the beneficiaries will be targeted to positively engage in the project.  For example, if your project is to deliver a diversionary activity to a targeted group of young people, how will you ensure the right young people can access and engage in the activity? What are the anticipated minimum numbers of individuals you will engage?  What will they achieve from being involved in the project? 

How will you measure the outcomes of your project and evidence success? (300 words): your response to this question should outline how you will measure that your project has delivered the outcomes you wanted it to; and how will you know if the positive change you set out to deliver has been achieved?

  • What outcomes can you demonstrate from your baseline and how do these relate to the Serious Violence priorities and themes?
  • What is the impact and legacy from the project?
  • What measures will you use to show success and positive change?  For example, if your project is to deliver training to targeted groups to raise awareness, how will you know that individuals who took part increased their knowledge and are less likely to become involved in serious violence?  

Financial Breakdown

Please provide a specific breakdown of the funding requested.  The SVD Fund cannot provide a generic contribution to an overall project.

Timescales for project delivery and funds spent

  • Funding must be spent by 31 March 2025
  • Please indicate all Quarters in which your project will be delivered and funds spent
  • Funds spent must match project delivery. If your project will be delivered from January 2024 – January 2025, Quarterly spend must also take place in this time
  • Please highlight all relevant Quarters with delivery and projected spend

Community Safety Partnerships 

Partnership applications are encouraged.  As a minimum, all projects must have relevant sign-off from the appropriate Community Safety Partnership (SYP or NYCSP) or local Community Safety Hub team prior to submission.

It is advised to make contact with your local team to discuss how your project/initiative adds value and supports local priorities before submitting your application.

Community Safety Partnership Contacts:

How will my application be assessed?

A panel, convened by the Office of the Police Fire and Crime Commissioner and including representatives from the statutory agencies listed above, will consider to what extent the application provides evidence that the proposed project will deliver against the Serious Violence Duty aims and contribute towards local priorities of the area in which the project will be taken forward.

If upon receipt of your application we require clarity relating to the information contained within it, we may contact you directly before sharing with the panel to review.

On occasion, it may be necessary for decisions to be made outside of set timescales.  In these circumstances, a panel member from each organisation will always be consulted. 

Applications

The closing date for applications is midday Thursday 19 October 2023.

Please note late applications will not be considered.

As a condition of receiving the funding, any successful applicant will be required to submit a Quarterly and End of Project monitoring report (subject to the discretion of the Commissioner), detailing and evidencing how the money has been spent, the positive change it is achieving, the benefits it has brought the local community and the overall impact of the project in relation to the Serious Violence Duty priorities.

All successful applicants will be required to evidence how the money has been spent and complete and sign a Document of Understanding and Grant Agreement prior to the grant being released.

A representative of the Commissioner or partner agency may request to visit the project supported by this funding.

Payment Details

If your application has been successful, the Commissioner will arrange for the funding to be provided to you via your designated bank account, subject to completion of the Agreements outlined above.

Please note:

  • Payments are usually made by electronic BACS transfer to the named organisation.
  • Evidence of the bank account (name, account number and sort code) relating to the account where the money is to be paid will be required in advance e.g. scanned paying-in slip.
  • Evidence of the expenditure of the grant must be retained and made available to the Commissioner as part of the End of Project report.
  • Any changes in the way the grant is to be used must be discussed and agreed with the Commissioning and Partnerships Manager on behalf of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

To apply and more information

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