LGA concern over funding for enforcement as research suggests 60% of retailers in some areas breaking law on knife sales

Some 60% of retailers in certain areas are breaking the law on underage knife sales, the Local Government Association (LGA) has warned.

It said lack of funds for enforcement would make tackling the knife crime epidemic difficult, and endanger councils’ ability to apply the Offensive Weapons Bill, which is expected to become law later this year.

Test purchases conducted by councils found 41% of UK-based online knife retailers made illegal sales to under-18s, while shops sold knives to children as young as 14.

The LGA said the £1m Home Office Prosecutions Fund – set up as part of the serious violence strategy – did not provide enough help to council trading standards teams to deal with knife sales.

It was awarded to 11 councils, split equally across two years, for in-store test purchase operations. There is also a national online test purchase operation.

The LGA said money from the first year would be used to prosecute those caught making illegal knife sales, leaving enough for only six councils to make test purchases this year.

It said more money should be allocated to the fund and that it should be extended beyond 2020, given a 59% increase in knife incidents in England and Wales in the past five years.

Trading standards teams also feared they lack the resources to enforce the Offensive Weapons Bill, which would create criminal offence concerning the delivery and sale of knives and dangerous corrosives to those aged under18.

Simon Blackburn, chair of the LGA’s safer and stronger communities board, said: “The retail supply of knives and acids needs to be managed robustly across all sales points, and retailers must ask for proof of age if they suspect the buyer is under 25.

“The Prosecutions Fund…has helped some councils prosecute retailers for blatant breaches of knife sale laws.

“However, given the knife crime epidemic, the significant cuts to trading standards budgets and the extra enforcement activity that will be needed when the Offensive Weapons Bill becomes law, this fund needs urgent further investment and extending to many more councils.”