VRU - Expert Partner for Youth Digital Safety in London

About the VRU

The London Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), hosted within the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), pioneers a partnership-based public health approach to tackling violence through prevention and early intervention. Since 2019, the VRU has invested in over 550,000 targeted interventions for young people across London.

Working with partners across government, local authorities, education, health, policing and the voluntary and community sector, the VRU supports coordinated action at the key touchpoints that influence a young person’s journey: early years and families, education, positive opportunities, youth work, and communities and place. Central to the VRU’s approach is a commitment to embedding the voices of young people, practitioners and communities in policy, programme design and decision-making.

Programme Background

The VRU recognises that the rapid growth of digital platforms and technologies has created both new opportunities and new risks for children and young people. While online spaces can support connection, creativity, learning and participation, they can also expose young people to harmful content, exploitation, misogyny, harassment, coercion and technology-enabled abuse, and can contribute to the escalation of offline harm and violence.

As digital risks continue to evolve, there remains a significant gap between young people’s lived experiences of the online world and the systems, policies and services designed to support them. The VRU is therefore developing a wider digital safety programme to strengthen London’s response to online harms through a more coordinated, place-based and multi-agency approach. This programme is expected to include:

• Strengthening trusted adult capability through specialist training and practical support.
• Piloting innovative digital youth work approaches that engage young people safely in digital spaces.
• Supporting local authorities and borough partners to test and strengthen local responses to online harms through safeguarding and place-based practice.
• Building a stronger London-wide evidence base, strategic understanding and coordinated regional response.

To support this ambition, the VRU is seeking to appoint an Expert Partner for Youth Digital Safety in London. The successful provider(s) will help the VRU keep pace with emerging trends in online harms, strengthen the evidence and practice base, embed youth-informed approaches, and support the development of a more coordinated public health response across London.

Description of the Service

The appointed provider(s) will act as an expert partner to the VRU, delivering specialist support across policy, research, evidence, programme development, learning and practice translation. The role will support the wider digital safety programme by strengthening connections between research, policy, safeguarding and frontline delivery, ensuring that insight and learning are translated into practical improvements for young people, practitioners and systems across London.

The commission is structured into two complementary lots:

Lot 1: Research, Policy and Evidence Partner

Lot 2: Programme Development and Learning Partner

Bidders may apply for one or both lots, and proposals may be led by a single organisation, partnership or consortium. The VRU particularly welcomes collaborative delivery models that bring together complementary expertise, capacity and reach.

Target Audience

The commission focuses on online harms affecting children and young people aged 11–25, with particular relevance to the VRU’s violence reduction, safeguarding and prevention agenda. Providers should demonstrate an understanding of how digital risks, behaviours and protective factors may vary across adolescence and young adulthood, and how they may be shaped by factors such as age, gender, race, sexuality, disability, neurodivergence, socio-economic disadvantage and wider vulnerability.

The work is expected to address a broad and evolving range of online harms, including peer conflict, harmful social media dynamics, exploitation, violence against women and girls (VAWG), misogyny, technology-enabled abuse and online harms that may contribute to or escalate offline violence. The scope is intentionally flexible and intended to support the VRU in identifying emerging risks and priority areas over time.

Intended Outcomes

The commission will contribute to:

• Stronger strategic understanding of digital safety and opportunity for children and young people.
• Stronger multi-agency safeguarding responses to digital risk.
• Youth-informed research, policy and delivery across the wider VRU digital safety programme.
• Stronger learning partner support and programme improvement across priority delivery strands.
• More practical and timely support across the wider VRU digital safety programme.
• A more coordinated public health response to online harms across London.
• Stronger external influence and strategic leadership on youth digital safety.

Timeframe and Budget

The intended contract period is 36 months, from October 2026, comprising an initial 24-month term with an option to extend for a further 12 months, subject to funding, performance and relevant approvals.

The budget breakdown is detailed below:

Lot 1 - Fixed Services: £110,600

Lot 2 - Fixed Services: £205,400

In addition, optional draw-down provision may be commissioned subject to programme need, funding availability and approvals:

Lot 1: up to £82,000

Lot 2: up to £152,000

The maximum potential contract value is therefore up to £550,000 excluding VAT, inclusive of core and optional provision. The VRU does not guarantee that any draw-down provision will be utilised.

Note: Market engagement was conducted on 29th June 2026, you can see the notice here https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/058240-2026