Government news and campaigns

Compensation scheme for ‘zombie’ knives and machetes

Guidance on how to surrender prohibited offensive weapons and claim compensation under the scheme has now been published. The scheme applies to ‘zombie-style’ knives and ‘zombie-style’ machetes.

You can read more here.

Criminals and immigration offenders removed on charter flight

46 foreign criminals and immigration offenders have been returned to Vietnam and Timor-Leste on a groundbreaking charter flight.

The operation is the UK’s first-ever charter returns flight to Timor-Leste and the first to Vietnam since 2022.

It comes after the Home Secretary announced this week that she has immediately replaced flight planning for Rwanda with flights to return foreign criminals and immigration offenders who have no right to be here to their home country. 

You can read more here.

Contract for Bibby Stockholm not renewed past January 2025

As part of the government’s commitment to clear the backlog and fix the asylum system, the Minister for Border Security and Asylum has made the decision not to renew the contract for use of the Bibby Stockholm barge. 

Ending the use of the Bibby Stockholm forms part of the expected £7.7 billion of savings in asylum costs over the next ten years, as the Home Secretary takes action to restart asylum case working, clear the backlog and remove those with no right to be here.

You can read more here.

Young Brits warned of the dangers of modern slavery abroad

Thousands of young people travelling to popular holiday destinations including Ibiza, Majorca and Menorca to work in bars and clubs have been given advice on the dangers of labour exploitation.

Border Force officers have been running Operation Karetu at 22 airports across the UK, targeting young people travelling to work in Mediterranean destinations who could be at risk of exploitation, criminality and illegal working.

The month-long operation has so far seen officers engage with over 1,000 young Brits, providing them with leaflets and guidance on how to avoid the risks involved as unofficial public relations (PR) reps – work that involves touting people into clubs and bars.

You can read more here.

Stakeholder campaigns

Crimestoppers Neighbourhood Crime

Crimestoppers have launched their Neighbourhood Crime campaign on speaking up about neighbourhood crime such as robbery, theft and burglary. The campaign focuses on three strands: Defining the crimes of theft, robbery and burglary, The impact of these crimes on victims, The long-term harms on communities. You can read more here.

Women’s Aid service for professionals

Women’s Aid is running a dedicated service for professionals who are currently working with survivors of domestic abuse, seeking refuge accommodation and support. This could include housing officers, police officers, social workers, health workers, probation officers and those working in education or the voluntary sector. We understand that it can be difficult to support survivors of domestic abuse without the ability to access specialist resources. The professionals’ service can provide dedicated support, information about safety planning, referral pathways or up-to-date refuge vacancies in a certain area, or other local specialist support, such as outreach, drop-ins, counselling services and advocacy projects. 

Find more information here.

Guide to Meaningful Survivor Engagement 

Women’s Aid Federations and Imkaan have launched a joint best practice guide on survivor engagement. Whilst there can be no ‘one size fits all’ approach to this critical work, they hope this guide will help others to listen to the experiences of survivors, hear their voices and understand their perspectives in a deeper and more meaningful way. This follows three years of work spent developing their approach to enabling diverse survivors of domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) to have increased opportunities to influence local practice, policy and national decision-making.

The guide is intended for anyone in the VAWG sector who would like to begin or develop adult survivor engagement in their work, and we hope you find it useful. Please find the guide here: – Final: A guide to meaningful survivor engagement (womensaid.org.uk) 

Upcoming campaigns

If your organisation has any upcoming surveys or campaigns that you would like us to highlight in our newsletter, please get in touch with the External Affairs team at [email protected]