Police Crime Prevention Initiatives (Police CPI) will be providing another round of support for the Government’s latest crime-busting Safer Streets Fund initiative, which was launched at the end of last week.
This second, £20m round of the Safer Streets Fund aims to build upon the momentum instilled by the first round of funding, offering Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and Local Authorities the opportunity to invest in new hotspot areas.
The Safer Streets Fund 2021-22 will maintain a number of the core characteristics of the fund that have made it a success to date, whilst making minor strategic changes such as allowing local authority led bids.
For 2021-22, a total fund of £20 million has been set, with a maximum of £432,000 grant funding per successful bid.
There is a requirement for a 20% matched funding contribution towards the bid, which can be provided as a financial contribution, or the equivalent of 20% in resourcing costs, e.g. staff/officer time. Bidders will also have flexibility to use the matched funding contributions for a wider range of supplementary activity to their bid, e.g. officer resource in a hotspot.
Police CPI will be providing technical guidance to help PCCs, Local Authorities and DOCOs deliver on the new objectives, which focus the fund onto four neighbourhood crime types – burglary, robbery, theft from the person, vehicle crime. Safer Streets Fund 2021-22 allows investment into commercial and non-residential areas as well, such as car parks and city centres. Wider acquisitive crime types (e.g. shoplifting and bike theft) will be considered as secondary outcomes, as will things like anti-social behaviour, violence, drug and alcohol related crime.
Three priority bids per PCC area can be submitted, regardless of the lead bidder and PCCs will decide on prioritisation and be required to sign off any Local Authority led bids.
The deadline for bids is midnight on 25 March 2021. Bidders will be informed whether they are successful by the end of May 2021.
Police CPI support for the Safer Streets Fund includes five ‘How to’ crime prevention guides, Peer Reviews of fifteen police forces approach to acquisitive crime prevention and the provision of adhoc advice & guidance to forces having difficulties with delivering specific interventions.
Jon Cole, Chief Operating Officer, Police CPI, said: “I am delighted that we can continue to support PCCs, local authorities and police forces in their delivery of the Safer Streets Fund bids”.
The updated Safer Streets Fund crime prevention toolkit can be accessed here: https://whatworks.college.police.uk/Research/Documents/Safer_Streets_toolkit.pdf
Further details about applying to the Safer Streets Fund are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safer-streets-fund-application-process