Bank holiday changes to council services
Introduction
To create a better Brighton & Hove for everyone, we need to understand how crime and community safety impact on our city. By gathering and analysing information on local crime patterns and emerging threats, we can develop targeted strategies and action plans.
The Strategic Assessment of Crime and Community Safety brings together this key data and local intelligence, and has helped to inform the Community Safety Partnership’s next three year Community Safety and Crime Reduction Strategy 2026 to 2029.
This report looks at:
- the local social and economic context and demographic characteristics of people who live in Brighton & Hove
- drivers and enablers of crime and disorder
- risk factors and vulnerable groups
- an overview of crime and disorder data and trends
- the impact of crime on victims and communities
The focus of the Strategic Assessment is on areas where partnership working is fundamental to tackling key issues in our city. The report therefore examines five key strategic priority areas, which include:
- serious violence, drugs and exploitation
- domestic abuse, sexual violence, and violence against women and girls
- anti-social behaviour
- hate crimes and incidents
- Prevent
Each strategic priority area is assessed, considering recent research, current national and local context, scale, trends and the nature of the problem, as well as local resources and gaps. Finally, conclusions and recommendations on what should be prioritised for the next three year Community Safety and Crime Reduction Strategy are considered.
The Strategic Assessment has been carried out jointly by subject lead officers, and analysts and data specialists in the Public Health Intelligence Team.
Serious Violence, drugs and exploitation
Key findings
The Health Counts survey in 2024 found that one in four respondents (24%) reported that they were very or fairly worried about physical violence against a family member, whilst around one in five (22%) were very or fairly worried about physical violence against themselves.
Police recorded violence with injury and serious violence offences have risen slightly year-on-year but remain less prevalent than their pre-pandemic peaks. Violence with injury offences continue to be more frequent during the summer months.
The city’s hotspot for violence with injury offences occurring outside of the home is in the city centre, with an elevated number of offences also extending away from the city along main arterial routes. Locations are often closely linked to the night-time economy, with clusters of offences in areas with a high number of licensed premises.
Over two-thirds of victims of violence with injury offences that occurred outside the home were male, with men aged 20-29 years and women aged 10-19 years the most likely to experience violence. Perpetrators were significantly more likely to be strangers than known to the victim.
There are an elevated number of violence with injury offences in the hours after school on weekdays. This indicates an increasing risk of violence to and from children and young people during these periods.
Hospital attendances for assault have steadily decreased over the last three years, and weapon-enabled injuries have remained static as a proportion of assaults.
Police recorded weapon possession offences rose in 2024/25 and are higher than the pre-pandemic peak, but this may be attributable in part to changes to the identification and policing of hot-spot areas, leading to better detection and confiscation of knives and other weapons. Crimes involving knives / sharp instruments are at their highest since 2020/21.
Recorded drug possession and drug trafficking and supply offences continue to increase. This reflects local concerns around public space drug dealing but may in part be attributable to partnership work with accommodation providers in the city to ensure that instances of potential drug possession are reported to police. Drug related deaths in the city remain higher than England average, and drug use remains more prevalent than national averages, especially among younger adults.
Total robbery offences in 2024/25 were lower than the previous year and significantly lower than the long-term peak prior to the pandemic, however business robberies continue to increase in the city. Home Office changes to the way in which some shoplifting offences are counted by police forces means this figure is likely to rise in subsequent years.
Modern slavery offences decreased in 2024/25, but have shown an increase in the first six months of 2025/26. Boys and young men (aged 10-19 years) are most likely to be identified as the victim of Modern Slavery offences. These are primarily local boys experiencing criminal exploitation, having been coerced to deal drugs, commit drug related violence or steal to order.
There are many factors which make a person vulnerable to exploitation; people with more than one factor present significantly increases their risk. These include poor mental health, substance misuse, poverty or debt, school exclusion, experience of coercion or abuse, isolation and homelessness.
Recommendations for partnership work
The use of Partnership Tactical Tasking and Co-ordination Group (PTTCG) and Joint Action Group (JAG) to identify areas of concern and task responses ensuring that relevant partners are participating in identifying issues and delivering solutions.
The partnership will continue its multiagency approach to addressing risks and vulnerabilities associated with cuckooing.
Effective partnership working to improve and increase the use of ASB tools and powers to disrupt perpetrators of exploitation and cuckooing.
Maintain a preventative approach to serious violence and knife-carrying through a multiagency response, overseen by the Brighton &Hove Violence Reduction Partnership (VRP). Community and third-sector groups, such as those funded by the VRP, to play a key role in developing and delivering interventions.
Effective partnership work between Police, Licensing, and local business community assets to addressing ongoing risks of violence (including violence against women and girls) within the night-time economy.
Continue to develop a contextual approach to safeguarding across internal and third sector partners, to ensure people involved or affected by local crime groups are supported; and vulnerable people prevented from becoming involved in violence and criminal exploitation.
Partnership data developed, analysed and shared via the Violence Reduction Partnership to inform needs assessments and problem profiles. Use data to further identify and form responses to inequalities.
Use data and experiences of key partners to improve understanding of areas and cohorts at highest risk of perpetrating or becoming victims of violence and use this to influence service delivery and deployment of existing resources.
Continue to develop Transitional Safeguarding arrangements and further embed systemic understanding and partnership approach to addressing Multiple and Compound Need.
The Community Safety Partnership Board members to effectively contribute to the Combating Drugs Partnership to support the objective of breaking drug supply chains and reducing drug harm within the city; understanding and addressing inequalities in drug use across vulnerable demographics.
Improve capacity across the partnership to identify and support victims of all forms of exploitation and encourage more consistent reporting under the Modern Slavery Act.
Address the fear of violent crime in the city by being candid about the challenges, amplifying interventions, promoting successes and encouraging further community involvement in developing and delivering responses.
Continue to improve partnership communications with residents to improve trust and confidence in reporting and subsequent responses.
Develop cross-county coordination and information sharing with regional counterparts and relevant partner services.
Expand the partnership focus on online harms - including the exposure of young people to violent content, and the role of social media in escalating conflict. Strengthen training for professionals, develop partnership protocols with the educational sector, and increase community awareness of online risks and reporting routes.
Domestic Abuse, Sexual Violence and Violence Against Women and Girls
Key findings
Domestic abuse, sexual violence and violence against women and girls (VAWG) continue to be a significant issue in Brighton and Hove with high levels of harm occurring daily. Often, survivors experience multiple forms of VAWG coterminously and can be victims of domestic abuse, sexual violence, stalking, and ‘honour- based’ crimes at the same time.
Domestic abuse remains a prolific crime, accounting for 10% of all police recorded crimes in Brighton & Hove in 2024/25. While all forms of domestic abuse remain under-reported to police, 5,035 domestic abuse crimes and incidents were recorded in 2024/25, 2% fewer than in the previous year, continuing a decreasing trend since 2019/20. In June 2023, significant changes were made to the way in which domestic abuse crimes and incidents were recorded by police nationwide, which is likely to have contributed to fewer crimes being recorded by the police.
Using the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and latest mid-year population data to estimate prevalence, it is estimated that 11,425 women and 7,668 men in the city have experienced domestic abuse in the last year. In addition, it is estimated that 3,766 women and 826 men in the city over 16 experienced some form of sexual assault in the last year.
Over two-thirds of victims of police recorded domestic abuse in the city were female, while the most common age group for victims was aged between 30 and 39 years. Seventy-nine percent of recorded perpetrators were male, and 40% of domestic abuse offences had a perpetrator who was an ex-partner of the victim.
Whilst the number of high risk domestic abuse cases discussed at the Brighton & Hove Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) decreased by 11% in 2024/25, the rate of cases per population remains significantly higher than the UK average. The proportion of repeat cases discussed at the MARAC has decreased in recent years and highlights improved timely responses in order to decrease risk.
With the introduction of Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (DARDRs), the Community Safety Partnership are now required to review deaths by suicide where there has been a history of domestic abuse. The Community Safety Partnership commissioned 6 DARDRs in 2025. Of these, three are suicide related deaths.
The Health Counts survey in 2024 found that over one in five respondents (21%) reported that they were very or fairly worried about being sexually assaulted or raped. This was significantly higher for females than males (35% compared with 7%).
In 2024/25 there were 1,289 sexual offences recorded by police – 7% greater than in the previous year. Sexual offences continue to be clustered in the city centre, and to be associated with the night-time economy. There are higher numbers of sexual offences recorded on Friday & Saturday nights, as well as towards the end of schooldays.
For police recorded sexual offences, 78% of victims were female, and the most common age group for victims was between 10 and 19 years. Ninety-five percent of perpetrators charged were male, and 41% of sexual offences had a perpetrator who was stranger to the victim, 30% were committed by an acquaintance and 10% were committed by an ex-partner. Eighteen percent of sexual offences were flagged as domestic abuse.
In 2024/25 there were 2,014 police recorded stalking and harassment offences – including the crimes of control/coercive behaviour and threatening communications - recorded in the city. Numbers of recorded harmful practice crimes (honour based violence, forced marriage and Female Genital Mutilation) remain low.
Violence against Women and Girls is an often under-reported crime type and feedback from partners continues to highlight that fear of not being believed or of not seeing timely, appropriate justice are key barriers to reporting or help seeking. This is an issue for survivors of all genders and more so for those with intersecting protected characteristics.
Recommendations for partnership work:
It is imperative that VAWG is recognised as a safeguarding issue irrespective of the risk level and that that those affected are provided with an appropriate response to their risk and intersecting needs. Going forward, it is proposed that as a partnership we will:
- address the gap in resources for the management of perpetrators which was identified from our focus groups and ensure that there are consequences for abusive behaviour
- acknowledge that there is a need for a more nuanced approach to VAWG which includes effective management of perpetrators which must include community level awareness raising action to ensure that all residents know they are also part of the solution in preventing and tackling VAWG - there is an ongoing need to effectively manage perpetrators and serial perpetrators
- implement the recommendations from DARDRs through the DARDR Oversight Panel
- continue to develop our response to suicidal ideation for survivors of VAWG including referrals to MARAC
- acknowledge that VAWG prevention is also suicide prevention
- develop targeted work to increase awareness of “Honour based abuse”
- develop a robust response to dual allegations to enable front line practitioners to make informed decisions about appropriate referrals
- consider how to improve the response to those with substance use issues who experience domestic abuse, and to ensure they are signposted to specialist support and aware of their rights
- develop a Community of Practice to improve the response to VAWG by front line workers
- continue to work with Licensing and the Police to address VAWG linked to the night-time economy
- incorporate the finding of the national MARAC Review into the BHCC MARAC
- develop an enhanced pathway for those affected by sexual exploitation with clear exit routes. This will be developed in conjunction with specialist services
- review the Enhanced Housing pathway
- review the progress of the Safehaven by the Sea Report recommendations
- scope an enhanced response to children and young people affected by VAWG within the Family Centres
- develop prevention and early intervention in partnership with the Health and Education sector
- utilise any opportunities under the new 10 Year Plan for Health to improve access to VAWG support
- continue to ensure that services working with marginalised survivors are part of the partnership
- continue to centre survivor voice in future commissioning decisions
- consider how to address those areas where we have limited data. This includes scoping the link between coercive control and girls in gangs
- continue to support the wider voluntary sector to understand how to refer into support services
- in partnership with the Business Crime Reduction Partnership, work to improve safety in public spaces and in the business sector
Hate incidents and crimes
Key findings
Hate crimes motivated by prejudice against a person's race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, disability or gender identity are crimes that cause significant emotional and behavioural harm to victims and create fear and intimidation across entire communities. Research shows that victims of hate crime are more frequently affected by negative emotional responses than victims of other types of crimes. There remains significant under-reporting of hate crimes and incidents to the police, and many communities in the city continue to experience barriers to reporting.
The 2024 Health Counts survey found respondents who were TNBI, LGBQ+, Black and Racially minoritised or disabled all had higher levels of worry about being targeted by perpetrators of hate crime than respondents without those protected characteristics.
Continued and escalating divisive narratives and international conflict continue to impact locally on community cohesion and community tensions. Brighton and Hove has seen a rising trend in almost all types of police recorded hate crimes and incidents in 2024/25, continuing a longer term increase. Hate crimes and incidents motivated by sexual orientation increased by 41%; religion by 26%; race by 20%, and gender identity by 17%. Disability motivated hate crimes and incidents are the only type of hate crime to have shown a decrease in 2024/25 compared with the previous year (down 22%).
The current situation in Israel/Palestine and the escalation and widening of violence is impacting community cohesion locally. This has also been manifested in an increase in police recorded hate crimes and incidents. Of police recorded hate crimes motivated by religion or belief in 2024/25, 66% were recorded as anti-Jewish and 20% recorded as Islamophobic.
Hate crimes can also sometimes have multiple motivations, the most common of which are those which are both racist and religiously motivated. There were 93 police recorded hate crimes in 2024/25 (7% of total police recorded hate crimes) which had multiple motivations.
A seasonal pattern can be seen for most forms of police-recorded hate crime and incidents, particularly for those motivated by race and sexual orientation, where a higher number of crimes and incidents are recorded during the summer months.
Hotspots for police recorded hate crimes in 2024/25 motivated by race and sexual orientation were both located in the city-centre. Public/open spaces were the most common location type for police recorded hate crimes motivated by race, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity. Hate crime motivated by sexual orientation showed some association with the night-time economy with peaks on Saturday night and Sunday morning and Sunday evening. No clear temporal patterns were seen in racist offences, though peaks in offences were seen around the end of each school day.
Victims of all types of hate crimes were most often male and in the 30-39 year age group. Most types of hate crime were more likely to be perpetrated by a stranger to the victim, except for in the case of disability motivated offences, which were more likely to be perpetrated by an acquaintance of the victim. Brighton & Hove attracts significant numbers of visitors from outside of the city, some of whom will perpetrate hate crime or incidents. Approximately 20-30% of those charged with a hate crime motivated by the sexual orientation or race of their victim reside outside of Brighton & Hove.
The Community Safety Casework Team received 52 reports of hate incidents in 2024/25, fewer than in the previous two years. This had been driven by a decrease in recorded incidents relating to hate motivated by race – the most commonly recorded form of hate incident – whilst those motivated by sexual orientation and gender identity both increased in the first six months of 2025/26.
Offensive graffiti data collated by Brighton & Hove City Council’s City Environment Team showed 116 reported instances of explicitly offensive graffiti in 2024/25 – likely a significant underestimate of its true extent in the city – of which anti-faith, generally offensive imagery, political and racist graffiti were the most common types.
Recommendations for partnership work
The focus of the Community Safety Partnership will be to continue to ensure that it is doing all that it reasonably can to:
- address hate incidents
- encourage reporting of hate incidents
- provide alternatives to reporting hate incidents to statutory agencies
- challenge divisive narratives
- improve community cohesion
The Community Safety Partnership will continue focused work to strengthen links between diverse communities and reduce tensions.
The Community Safety Partnership will seek to better engage with businesses to promote inclusion and cohesion by better identifying and challenging hate incidents, especially those perpetrated by non-resident visitors to the city.
The Community Safety Partnership will, within available resources, explore new and innovative ways to encourage and support third party reporting of hate incidents, with a particular focus on how to encourage reporting in the night-time economy, the potential development of third-party reporting ambassadors to support and encourage reporting and developing mechanisms for third-party reporting through community services such libraries, GP surgeries and community centres.
The Community Safety Partnership will further encourage the reporting of hate incidents by promoting a better understanding of what constitutes a hate incident and recognition that an incident doesn’t have to cross the threshold of becoming a crime to be usefully and legitimately reported.
Brighton & Hove City Council will continue implementation of the Brighton and Hove Anti-Racism strategy.
Brighton & Hove City Council will continue to offer training and briefings to hate incident practitioners across the city, encouraging a harm led approach making the best use of tools and powers available, whilst also promoting the ASB/Hate Incident Case Review procedure.
Brighton & Hove City Council Community Safety Team will continue to work closely with colleagues in International Migration Services as part of the recently established Community Cohesion Service regarding placement of asylum seekers in hotels and the Homes 4 Ukraine Scheme, to ensure that potential community tension is monitored and responded to when necessary.
The Joint Action Group (JAG) will continue to identify and respond to emerging hate incident concerns in geographical locations in the city, whilst the Hate and ASB Risk Assessment Conference (HASBRAC) will assess our high-risk and complex hate incident cases, ensuring a multiagency plan is in place to address and reduce the harm caused.
Brighton & Hove City Council will continue to implement its graffiti reduction strategy, prioritising the removing of offensive graffiti and targeting Hate graffiti offenders for enforcement.
Prevent
Key findings
Terrorism threat is developing and becoming more complex and diverse in the UK. Presently, terrorism remains one of the most direct and immediate risks to the UK’s national security. There have been eighteen terrorist incidents since March 2017 in the UK, with nineteen further terrorist plots successfully disrupted by the police, security, and intelligence agencies since the start of 2020, with over 800 live counter terrorism investigations. Three organisations have been proscribed in the UK in 2025 with an increased number of arrests for proscription offences nationally. Threats from hostile states have increased rapidly over the year.
There were 232 arrests for terrorist-related activity in Great Britain in the year 2024/25, 20 more than the previous 12-month period (an increase of 9%).
There were 8,778 referrals to the Prevent programme in 2024/25, 27% more than in the previous year and the highest recorded since data collection began in 2015. From these, 1,727 individuals (20% of referrals) were discussed at a Channel panel, and 1,472 individuals (17% of referrals) were adopted as a Channel case. Numbers are higher due to a change in recording methodology to include individuals who did not give consent. Although not directly attributable to the Southport tragedy, an increased rate of referral is noted following the Southport attack.
Key threats continue to arise from self-initiated terrorists (individual/s who may be inspired by the rhetoric of groups or causes across all extremist perspectives to carry out attacks), extreme right-wing terrorism, Al-Qaida/ Daesh and affiliated or inspired terrorism, and online risks of radicalisation, including gaming and gaming adjacent platforms. Technology is a key enabler of most modern threat.
The risk from Self-Initiated Terrorists acting on their own or in smaller cells continues from various extremist perspectives, with Daesh, Al-Qaida (AQ) and extreme right-wing propaganda continuing to inspire attacks. The unpredictable and unconstrained operation of Self-Initiated Terrorists makes prevention more difficult, especially in view of the rise in referrals in the city for those with no clear or coherent ideology, or no ideology where fascination with violence, mass casualty attacks, and/or weapons is often reported.
In the current threat landscape, explicit affiliation with any specific terrorist organisation, and fixed ideological alignment are diminishing. Prevent referrals in the South East in 2024/25 show that the most common concern for referrals was for those who had no ideology, but where some other susceptibility to radicalisation was identified (42%); a further 26% related to people with no ideology identified, and 19% related to Extreme Right-Wing ideologies.
The Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) works with online platforms to stop harmful material being posted, remove it when it appears, and divert people away. Over 11,000 referrals were made to the CTIRU in 2024 and over 1,800 referrals by 12 February 2025.
Over half (53%) of those arrested for terrorism-related activity in 2024/25 in the UK were aged under 30, with 19% aged under 18. Prevent referrals in the South East also show an increasingly younger age profile, with more than 55% of referrals related to a person aged under 18 (65% aged under 21). Mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions were also frequently recorded amongst those referred to Prevent.
The extreme right-wing terrorism threat has grown, with the online space providing a major platform for this growth. Increased reach of the extreme right-wing to young people is evidenced in prosecutions as well as Prevent referrals both nationally and locally. Extreme right-wing groups/ influencers are likely to continue to exploit the issue of local asylum provision, migration, and LGBQ+ and TNBI issues to promote grievances, increase support, and gain purchase in the city. Anti-Muslim, antisemitic, and anti-establishment tropes continue to be deployed by the extreme right-wing, within the current fractious national politics.
Al-Qaida, Daesh and associated terrorism concerns continue and referrals are likely to see an upward trend.
Conspiracy theories and anti-establishment narratives may be used by all extremist perspectives to motivate and support terrorist violence. Partners continue to report concerns related to misogyny, and other INCEL content and report an increase in young men accessing this content. Some young men on the Autistic spectrum are reported to be particularly vulnerable to this content. Fascination with extreme violence, weapon and mass casualty are other emerging risks.
International and national incidents continue to have local impact and affect inter-community relations. The cumulative impact of the various international and national conflicts has given rise to a narrative where communities are worried about increased Islamophobia, antisemitism, and anti-migrant views. This may contribute to grievances that could be exploited to radicalise, recruit, and raise funds, especially within the context of the pre-existing ‘victimisation narratives’.
The city has a high level of single issues groups, with high level of protest activities. This membership or protest activity can cause tension within certain communities and provide a fertile ground for exposure to particular narratives or engagement factors.
The role and influence of social media and disinformation and misinformation have emerged prominently in people’s perception of and trust in the government or authorities. Conspiracy theories pose a potential threat when they and those who propagate them engender distrust in their audiences and encourage violence towards the government, public or political figures. People’s relationships with authority, trust and institutions are likely to remain salient in future.
Recommendations for partnership work
Based on the strategic assessment, there are no proposed changes to the outcomes for the Prevent local strategy over 2026-29.
The Prevent landscape has seen rapid changes over the last strategy period, with continued national learning from inquiries and inquests, Prevent Learning Reviews, ongoing Prevent programme reviews, Channel evaluation, and appointment to a permanent Prevent Commissioner’s role in future. We will continue to reflect these national changes and align local delivery appropriately. We will continue to learn from national best practice and focus on improving the effectiveness and impact of Prevent delivery.
We will continue to build on existing best practice in coordinating Prevent delivery locally, our successful engagement with diverse communities and partners, and mainstream Prevent work.
We will continue work to understand threat, risks, and susceptibilities to being drawn into terrorism for the city, in partnership with our communities and statutory partners, and coordinate a partnership response to manage those risks. The Prevent action plan has been responsive to the emerging risks and trends and our delivery has been flexible, and risk based. The action plan will be amended annually in line with the strategic risks outlined in the counter terrorism local profile (CTLP) and the Brighton and Hove Prevent Risk Assessment. The terrorism threat picture drives high level decision making in all Prevent activity, and our response is proportionate to the threat picture in line with ‘Security Threat Check’ considerations.
Since its inception, Prevent strategy and delivery has been embedded in strong partnership with communities and has adopted an anti-racist approach. Due to historical concerns about Prevent disproportionately impacting Black and Racially Minoritised and Muslim communities and damaging trust, the strategy re-commits to this approach. Since the start, local Prevent delivery has adopted an anti-racist approach and the Prevent Action Plan continues to be guided by the principles of proportionality, flexibility, and inclusivity. Empowered individuals and communities are at the heart of effective Prevent delivery. We will continue to have an effective dialogue with our communities on Prevent and improve partnership work and communications with communities to increase trust and confidence.
We will continue to facilitate the Prevent Board to have oversight of risks and threats, assess impact of work, and monitor compliance with Prevent Duty. We will continue to ensure democratic oversight and scrutiny of the Prevent work, and work to improve transparency.
We will continue work to safeguard and support individuals from being drawn into or supporting terrorism, support monthly Channel Panel meetings and ensure appropriate and effective support for individuals.
We will continue to improve understanding amongst professionals of risks in the city, susceptibility to radicalisation, referral pathways and support available, and countering extremist and terrorist narratives through Prevent training and briefings, disseminating headline risks and factsheets on key local threats.
We will maintain oversight of the international, national, and local critical incidents and assess their potential impact on community cohesion: polarisation of communities and creating fissures. We will work to understand community sentiments to prevent escalation of any community tensions, coordinate partnership responses to reduce its impact, and reassure communities around critical incidents in the UK and internationally. We will continue to facilitate the ‘One Voice Partnership’ and work in partnership with our faith, Black and Racially Minoritised, refugee, and minority communities.
With devolution and likely Mayoral elections in May 2028, continued political buy-in for Prevent across parties and communities, and shared understanding will need to be developed through Members engagement plan, as well as through the ‘One Voice Partnership’.
Future policy and operational changes, although anticipated in the Strategic Assessment, will benefit from revisiting, so that we remain flexible and respond appropriately in developing our strategy and action plan.
We will work to re-energise structures to engage and work in partnership with our diverse communities, including the ‘One Voice Partnership’, to create a shared understanding on Prevent, deliver new trainings, and embed Channel Changes. Work to reduce the permissive environment and disrupt radicalising influences will continue to be focused on.