Our Violence Prevention Strategy
We launched our new Violence Prevention Strategy in June 2026 – a 10-year blueprint to create safer, more connected communities.
It sets out our vision, strategic priorities, and the cross-cutting pillars that enable us to deliver this work, as well as the core principles that underpin all our work.
It draws on our learning and evaluation and tells a story about our approach to tackling violence and how we work with partners to deliver policies and practice, focused on acting early and quickly to prevent serious violence, all backed up by research and evaluation.
We work across all five areas of Merseyside – Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens, Wirral – using insight to inform where our work is delivered.
It demonstrates how we work closely with young people, parents, youth practitioners, teachers, health professionals and the police to champion families, youth work and inclusive education.
Read about our Strategic Priorities
Interventions
Through primary, secondary and tertiary interventions, we will focus our investment and opportunities to bring the greatest benefits, driving long-term change and building community resilience across Merseyside.
Concentrating on these areas and with a focus on community and place-based work, we can ensure our activity is occurring in the right places.
From Strategy to Action
Preventing serious violence in Merseyside requires a shared approach that translates strategic intent into consistent action across the system.
We take a 5Cs approach to working with partners and communities to delivering this work:
- Co-production
- Co-operation in data and intelligence sharing
- Collaboration
- Community consensus approach
- Counter-narrative
They provide a common foundation for leadership, planning, partnership activity and local delivery, supporting a whole-system, public health approach to preventing serious violence.
Read our Strategy
Use the link below to view or download our Strategy 2026-36. Alternatively, take a look at our Plan on a Page below.
Our plan on a page
Our strategy sets out how our work and projects will focus on five key areas:
Strategic Needs Assessment
Serious violence is complex and multi-faceted, and with an estimated cost of more than £200million a year to the Merseyside region, partners have a moral responsibility to protect and prevent further harm to communities.
Each year, we develop a Strategic Needs Assessment (SNA) which highlights key trends in serious violence, identifies risk and protective factors, and provides recommendations to improve outcomes for individuals and communities.
Drawing on insights from emergency services, public health, education, and lived experiences, the SNA paints a detailed picture of the challenges facing Merseyside – and the opportunities to overcome them.
It also reflects the voices of young people and residents across Merseyside, gathered through surveys and community engagement events.
Reviewing data and information from a range of sources gives us a solid understanding of how – alongside partners – we can put effective interventions in place that can have a big impact and reduce serious violence across Merseyside.
This analysis has helped shape the regions Serious Violence Duty Strategy for preventing and reducing serious violence locally.
Use the links below to view or download our Strategic Needs Assessment 2024-25 and 2023-2024.
Annual reports
Find out more about how we are delivering on our strategy by taking a look at our Annual Reports: