Who is the Sussex Violence Reduction Partnership?

The Sussex Violence Reduction Partnership utilises a Hub and Spoke model.

The Hub Team is made up of 4 members of staff embedded within the Local Policing Service Improvement and Engagement Department at Sussex Police. The Hub Team drive the work of the partnership, ensuring an evidence led, multi agency approach to preventing and reducing serious violence within Sussex. 

The Spoke element of this model enables the 3 local authority areas to provide localised focus to taking forward the work of the partnership.

The Spoke local authority areas are;

Brighton & Hove

East Sussex

West Sussex

The membership of the spokes reflects the range of public bodies and community organisations who have a vital part to play in reducing serious violence in our communities and is made up of a wide range of experts and specialist staff from the NHS, local authorities, youth offending teams, the voluntary and community sector, police and probation.

Local authorities

Representing Education, Children and Youth services, Community Safety, Safeguarding and Early Intervention services

  • Brighton & Hove City Council
  • East Sussex County Council
    Eastbourne
    Hastings
    Lewes
    Rother
    Wealden
  • West Sussex County Council
    Adur
    Arun
    Chichester
    Crawley
    Horsham
    Mid Sussex
    Worthing

Criminal justice

  • HM Prison Service
  • National Probation Service
  • Youth Offending Teams

Health

  • East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust - ESHT
  • NHS Sussex
  • University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust - UH Sussex

Emergency services

  • East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service
  • Office of the Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner
  • Sussex Police
  • West Sussex Fire & Rescue Service

 

Serious Violence Duty

The government’s Serious Violence Duty, which came into force in January 2023, helps to protect young people in Sussex by ensuring the right organisations are working together to tackle violent crime.

The duty supports successful delivery of our multi-agency approach to preventing and reducing serious violence.

It requires local partners to:

  • work collaboratively,
  • share data and information about serious violence
  • and publish actions they will take together to respond to local issues.

Because the response to serious violence is now a statutory requirement, we have been able to involve additional agencies and organisations with the VRP and to coordinate our work more effectively through this extended set of partners. They include educational, prison and youth custody authorities.