Safer London
Safer London is a London-based charity delivering free, long-term trauma-informed one-to-one casework and family support to children and young people aged 11-25 affected by violence and exploitation across all 33 London boroughs, funded by statutory commissioning and charitable grants.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2005
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Safer London does
Safer London is a registered charity (Charity No. 1109444) and company limited by guarantee (Company No. 5190766) headquartered at Skyline House, 200 Union Street, London, delivering trauma-informed support to children, young people and families across all 33 London boroughs. Its core services comprise specialist one-to-one casework for young Londoners aged 11-18 (up to 25 for those with neurodiverse needs) affected by community violence, criminal exploitation including County Lines, sexual exploitation, and harmful sexual behaviours; family casework for parents and carers; and the AIM3-trained Harmful Sexual Behaviours (HSB) service funded by Help for Children. Service delivery is operationalised through a Front Door team that triages referrals submitted via an online Apricot portal, supported by the multi-agency VESS London alliance commissioned by MOPAC in partnership with St Giles Trust, New Horizon Youth Centre, Anna Freud and the London Violence Reduction Unit.
The organisation has no proprietary technology platform; digital tooling is limited to the Apricot referral system, a WordPress-based website, a LinkedIn company page, JustGiving for donations, and standard email/newsletter marketing. There is no AI or machine learning capability disclosed, and operational scaling depends on specialist human caseworkers rather than automation.
Revenue is generated entirely from non-commercial sources: statutory commissioning (MOPAC, Home Office, Ministry of Justice), charitable trust and foundation grants (Garfield Weston Foundation, The National Lottery Community Fund, Help for Children, The Portal Trust, London Community Foundation), individual and corporate donations through JustGiving and corporate champion partnerships, and a modest training and consultancy line sold directly to professionals via a business development function. Services are provided free to beneficiaries, with no pricing model charged to young Londoners, parents or carers. The organisation employs 57 staff, is led by CEO Rosemary Watt-Wyness (appointed May 2025) and reports a cumulative reach of 8,000+ children, young people and families since 2020.
Safer London firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Safer London
- Legal name
- Safer London
- Website
- https://saferlondon.org.uk
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2005
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Safer London is a London-based charity delivering free, long-term trauma-informed one-to-one casework and family support to children and young people aged 11-25 affected by violence and exploitation across all 33 London boroughs, funded by statutory commissioning and charitable grants.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Safer London industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Youth Violence Prevention and Exploitation Support Services
- NAICS
- Individual and Family Services (6241), Child and Youth Services (624110)
- SIC
- Services-Social Services (8300)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Youth Justice, At-Risk Youth & Violence Prevention Nonprofits (BPAGADAM)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Protection, Child Protection & Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Response (BPAGAAAG)
Keywords
Where Safer London is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Safer London business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Others
Revenue model
- Donations and Fundraising: Safer London receives donations from individuals via JustGiving and its own website. It also runs corporate partnership and fundraising campaigns including corporate champions programmes, events, and time-to-listen campaigns. The organisation is supported by a JustGiving page for one-off and recurring donations.
- Statutory and Government Contracts: Safer London is commissioned by public bodies including MOPAC (Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime) and the London Violence Reduction Unit to deliver services such as VESS London. These commissioning arrangements provide contracted income for specific service delivery.
- Trust and Foundation Grants: The organisation receives grant funding from charitable foundations including Garfield Weston Foundation, The National Lottery Community Fund, Help for Children (HFC), The Portal Trust, and others. These grants fund specific programmes and service delivery.
- Training and Consultancy: Safer London offers training and consultancy services to professionals and organisations on trauma-informed approaches, safeguarding, and working with young people affected by violence and exploitation. This represents a professional services revenue stream.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels8 records
Safer London product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Safer London is a registered charity delivering long-term, trauma-informed, one-to-one specialist intervention for young Londoners aged 11–25 affected by community violence, sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation (including County Lines), and harmful sexual behaviours. It also provides family casework support to parents and carers (VESS London), a specialist Harmful Sexual Behaviours service staffed by AIM3-trained caseworkers, youth participation programmes (VIPs and Young Researchers), and training and consultancy for professionals working with affected young people.
Product overview
Safer London is a London-based charity providing a suite of trauma-informed support services for young Londoners affected by violence and exploitation. The core service portfolio includes one-to-one specialist intensive casework for young Londoners affected by community violence, sexual exploitation and criminal exploitation (including County Lines); a Harmful Sexual Behaviours (HSB) service delivered by AIM3-trained expert caseworkers; and VESS London (Violence and Exploitation Support Service) providing family casework support to parents and carers. Complementing direct service delivery, Safer London operates youth participation programmes (Young Champion VIPs and Young Researchers) that embed young Londoners' voices in organizational governance and research, and runs advocacy initiatives including the Time to Listen campaign and See Beyond project. The organization also offers training and consultancy services to professionals working with affected young people.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Young Londoners affected by violence and exploitation support One-to-one specialist intensive casework for young Londoners affected by community violence, sexual exploitation and criminal exploitation (including County Lines). Provides long-term, trauma-informed intervention lasting 3–12 months (or longer) to increase safety, reduce risk and build stability. Services are free at point of use and delivered in the community (home, school, or other safe locations).
- VESS London (The Safe Place) family casework One-to-one family casework for parents and carers whose children are affected by violence and exploitation. Family caseworkers help build confidence, develop coping mechanisms, strengthen family dynamics, and provide advocacy. Delivered across all London boroughs via the VESS London alliance, typically for 3–12 months.
- Harmful Sexual Behaviours (HSB) Service Specialist trauma-informed and preventative support for young Londoners aged 11–18 (up to 25 for neurodiverse) displaying lower to medium levels of harmful sexual behaviours. Delivered by AIM3-trained Expert HSB Caseworkers focusing on safety, harm prevention and behaviour change.
- Training and Consultancy Training and consultancy services for professionals and organisations on trauma-informed approaches, relationship-based practice, safeguarding, and working with young people affected by violence and exploitation. Sold directly via the Business Development team with bespoke proposals.
Quantifiable outcome
- 86% of young Londoners feel safer after receiving long-term, trauma-informed support
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use Safer London
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Safer London technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Safer London partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- St Giles TrustcoreSt Giles Trust is a key alliance partner in VESS London (Violence and Exploitation Support Service), working alongside Safer London, New Horizon Youth Centre, and the London Violence Reduction Unit. The alliance is commissioned by MOPAC and delivers services to parents and carers affected by their children's exploitation. The organisations share case files through a common electronic system managed by Safer London.
- New Horizon Youth CentrecoreNew Horizon Youth Centre is an alliance partner in VESS London, working alongside Safer London, St Giles Trust, and the London Violence Reduction Unit. They provide additional support including housing assistance for families. The alliance shares case management systems and case files across partner organisations.
- Anna FreudcoreAnna Freud is an alliance partner in VESS London (The Safe Place), working alongside Safer London, St Giles Trust, New Horizon Youth Centre, and the London Violence Reduction Unit. The partnership brings mental health and clinical expertise to the multi-agency response for families affected by violence and exploitation.
- London Violence Reduction Unit (London VRU)coreThe London VRU commissions VESS London and the broader alliance of Safer London, St Giles Trust, New Horizon Youth Centre, and Anna Freud. It is part of the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and represents the statutory violence reduction agenda across all London boroughs.
- Exit HateminorSafer London partnered with Exit Hate, a leading organisation combatting Extreme Right-Wing (ERW) extremism in the UK. The partnership aimed to work collaboratively and learn from Exit Hate's experience of working with young people in danger of exploitation with an emphasis on tackling extremism in London. Outcomes included amended caseworker processes, support tools for recognising radicalisation, session plans, and training workshops for the Safer London team and families.
- University of Sussex (Professor Kristine Langhoff)minorSafer London partnered with Professor Kristine Langhoff and her team at the University of Sussex for a three-year research project (2021–2024) exploring resistance in the lives of girls and young women affected by sexual violence and exploitation. Safer London's VIPs participated in the research, helping shape the understanding and representation of resistance. The collaboration produced interactive cards for professionals working with children and young people.
- University College London (UCL)minorSafer London and UCL conducted research on bereavement support following youth violence, seeking participants through a joint press release in August 2023. The collaboration represents a research partnership focused on improving support outcomes for young Londoners affected by violence.
- Participation PeopleminorSafer London engaged Participation People, youth engagement specialists, to support the VIP (Voice, Influence and Participation) programme. Priya, Programme Manager at Participation People, worked with Safer London VIPs over 12 months to help them shape and inform everything Safer London does, contributing to youth voice, programme design, and organisational strategy.
Scale indicators11 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Safer London competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Barnardo's: Largest UK children's charity running multiple services for children affected by sexual exploitation and county lines. Broad incumbent in the same child-protection space, serving overlapping beneficiary groups at national scale.
- NSPCC: UK's largest children's charity focused on child protection and abuse prevention. Comparable on safeguarding and child-protection mission, with Safer London drawing senior talent from NSPCC national roles, but operating at significantly larger scale.
Direct peers
- Catch22: UK social business delivering youth justice, exploitation and violence-reduction services including the County Lines support programme. Closely comparable in serving exploited and criminally-involved young people through commissioned public-sector contracts.
- PACE (Parents Against Child Exploitation): UK charity working with parents and carers of children affected by child sexual exploitation. Direct peer on the family-side of Safer London's VESS London/The Safe Place service, and Safer London's incoming CEO was previously PACE CEO.
- Redthread: Youth violence intervention charity embedding specialist workers in A&E and community settings to support young people affected by violence and exploitation. Highly comparable trauma-informed, relationship-based model targeted at the same 11-25 youth cohort.
- St Giles Trust: UK charity working with disadvantaged young people and families affected by violence, exploitation and the criminal justice system. Direct peer given the VESS London alliance partnership and overlapping mission in supporting exploited and at-risk young Londoners.
- Anna Freud Centre: Mental health charity for children and young people and a VESS London alliance partner alongside Safer London. Direct peer through formal alliance partnership and comparable trauma-informed practice with the same at-risk young Londoner cohort.
- The Children's Society: Major UK children's charity running exploitation and county lines support services for young people. Directly comparable given Safer London's Director of Practice previously led national service delivery at The Children's Society.
- New Horizon Youth Centre: London-based charity supporting young people facing homelessness and exploitation. Direct peer and formal VESS London alliance partner, delivering housing-related support for the same affected families Safer London serves.
Regional players
- London Youth: Umbrella membership organisation for London youth organisations. Adjacent rather than directly competitive, but highly comparable given Safer London's incoming CEO led London Youth for 8 years, and both operate London-wide in the youth sector.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Safer London social profiles
Digital presenceSafer London financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Safer London leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles20 records
Safer London funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Safer London M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Safer London
What does Safer London do?
Safer London is a registered charity delivering long-term, trauma-informed, one-to-one specialist intervention for young Londoners aged 11–25 affected by community violence, sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation (including County Lines), and harmful sexual behaviours. It also provides family casework support to parents and carers (VESS London), a specialist Harmful Sexual Behaviours service staffed by AIM3-trained caseworkers, youth participation programmes (VIPs and Young Researchers), and training and consultancy for professionals working with affected young people.
Is Safer London a public or private company?
Safer London is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Safer London founded?
Safer London was founded in 2005. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Safer London based?
Safer London is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Safer London make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Donations and Fundraising is the primary driver. The others are statutory and Government Contracts, trust and Foundation Grants and training and Consultancy.
Who are Safer London's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Barnardo's and NSPCC. Direct peers are Catch22, PACE (Parents Against Child Exploitation), Redthread, St Giles Trust, Anna Freud Centre, The Children's Society and New Horizon Youth Centre. London Youth is listed as a regional player.
Does Safer London have an API?
No public API is recorded for Safer London.
What industry is Safer London in?
Safer London's product category is Youth Violence Prevention and Exploitation Support Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGADAM, Youth Justice, At-Risk Youth & Violence Prevention Nonprofits, with a secondary code of BPAGAAAG, Protection, Child Protection & Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Response. Its NAICS code is 6241 and its SIC code is 8300.