Portsmouth
Portsmouth is a bustling island city on the south coast. There is a strong naval presence in the city and a vibrant student community associated with the University of Portsmouth. It is the most densely populated city outside London with its 217,000 residents living within 40 square kilometres. Of these residents, approximately 43,750 are under 18yrs of age, 140,400 are 18-64yrs and 30,600 are over 65yrs.
Nearly half (46%) of Portsmouth’s housing pre-dates the First World War, and almost two thirds of houses are terraced houses, compared to the England average of a third.
13.4% of the population in Portsmouth is income deprived according to the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) 2019, and Portsmouth ranks 102 out of 316 local authorities in England where one is the most deprived area. Some areas of Charles Dickens and Paulsgrove are in the most deprived 10% of areas in England.
Recognising these challenges identified all partners are committed to working together in Portsmouth to meet these challenges and provide the best outcomes for Portsmouth residents.
In Portsmouth, the VRU works closely with Portsmouth City Council and the Safer Portsmouth Partnership. Portsmouth Health and Wellbeing Board oversees the delivery of the Community Safety Plan. To read more about how this partnership works to keep people safe click here: Home – Safer Portsmouth
In addition, partners in Portsmouth are represented at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Strategic Violence Reduction Partnership (SVRP) Board and work closely with the Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) to address the root causes of serious violence. This is supported by understanding those people that are most vulnerable to serious violence and developing a local strategy for how we focus resources on those people in most need of support.
The VRU works with the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) to understand the evidence about what approaches work to prevent serious youth violence in the medium to longer term. You can read more about this here: Youth Endowment Fund Toolkit
In addition to the services available in Portsmouth, the VRU commissions the following services:
Future Directions (focused deterrence): a strategy that aims to identify young people most at risk of involvement in serious violence and support them in moving towards a path of desistance. Individuals identified for this programme are often also highly vulnerable, including to factors such as exploitation. It achieves this by communicating the consequences of violence, providing a supportive pathways away from it and involving the community to encourage reintegration
RESET programme: This is a community-based intervention service for 18-25 year olds. The service is voluntary for young people that have offended and require guidance and support in moving away from offending and into employment, training or education
“Get Ready for Construction” programme: This programme is aimed at justice involved children aged 16 and 17 who are identified as being high risk of serious violence and NEET. The service is providing four individual courses and mentoring support to achieve the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) card and support with pathways into employment.
Pol-ED: This programme allows schools to deliver a series of pre-planned lessons to pupils, enables Police Forces to engage with schools through lessons and assemblies, and enables local authorities and criminal justice partners to facilitate similar pre-planned lessons in their youth settings. Lessons are mapped out against the PSHE curriculum and subjects not covered in other PSHE schemes, created by experts.
Young Futures Prevention Panels (YFPPs): Multi-agency panels designed to identify, assess and refer into effective support young people who may be vulnerable to being drawn into crime. Individuals are identified by using data, where they are referred to panel, where services agree on how they can support that individual.
Statement from Portsmouth Community Safety Plan –
The priorities for 2025 – 2028 are:
1) Tackling violent crime – stopping violence, especially against women and girls. This includes domestic abuse, sexual violence and knife crime.
2) Reducing harm from drugs – helping people get treatment, stopping exploitation, and preventing drug‑related crime.
3) Supporting young people – finding and helping children and young people who may be at risk of exploitation, drug use, or crime.
4) Helping people with complex needs – working together to tackle the root causes, and giving joined‑up, person‑centred support.
Contact us:
Safer Portsmouth Partnership: Lisa Wills lisa.wills@portsmouthcc.gov.uk