Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has hailed a milestone for London's Violence Reduction Unit, which has now reached one million people, as figures show hospital admissions of young people for knife assaults in the capital have fallen by 55% since it was set up.
The unit, launched in 2019 to take a public health approach to youth violence, has worked with around 750,000 young people and 250,000 parents, carers, youth workers and other professionals. City Hall says London's fall in knife assault admissions among young people has been faster than in the rest of England, and that there have been nearly 12,500 fewer victims of violence causing injury since the unit began.
Sadiq Khan: 'We cannot arrest our way out of violence'
"I set up the Violence Reduction Unit just over seven years ago because of a clear and long-held view that we cannot arrest our way out of violence," Sadiq Khan said. "Violent crime is preventable, not inevitable. As we hit the milestone of one million people through the VRU, we are able to demonstrate that a public health approach to tackling violence and exploitation works."
"Hospital admissions of young people for knife assault are down by more than half, and there are thousands of fewer victims of violence and gun crime, but I'm clear there is more to do to reduce violence and exploitation."
More than £140 million has been invested through the unit in prevention, early intervention and diversion, from keeping young people in school and funding youth clubs to working with young people in hospital beds and police cells to break the cycle of retaliation. The Mayor said the investment had also delivered support and training for thousands of youth workers, mentors and school staff.
Knife crime still falling
City Hall figures show 2,500 fewer knife crime victims over the past three years, with offences down a further 10% in the latest 12-month period. Office for National Statistics figures published this week also showed a 12% fall in police-recorded knife-enabled crime in London in the year to June 2026. The Metropolitan Police still logged almost 14,000 knife-enabled crimes in the 12 months to March 2026.
Martin Griffiths, consultant trauma surgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust and clinical director of the Violence Reduction Network for the NHS in London, said: "A 55 per cent fall in young people admitted to hospital for knife assault is welcome news. Every one of those injuries is a tragedy however, but behind this fall are young Londoners who are safer and families spared the worst day of their lives."
