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SP18

Online knife retailer compliance with Knives Act

Southport Inquiry · The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 · Issued 13 April 2026 · Addressed to: Home Office

Government responseHome Office: Accepted (Jul 2026)

DeliveryNo statement from Home Office found

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

The Home Office should take immediate action to ensure that online knife retailers are complying with the Knives Act 1997, particularly regarding the marketing of knives, machetes, swords and similar bladed articles.

Southport Inquiry, The Southport Inquiry Report: Phase 1 · 13 Apr 2026 Source PDF →

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

In July 2026, HM Government stated that it expected to complete implementation in mid-2026, with next steps including issuing communications on the Knives Act 1997 to retailers and police forces, preparing refreshed guidance on bladed articles, and providing £1.75 million to establish a new National Knife Crime Centre (Home Office response, Jul 2026). The record holds no update since the Home Office's response of July 2026 (Home Office response, Jul 2026).

Sources

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026.

Report-level response context

The government's response to Phase 1 (CP 1623, 2 July 2026) agreed with all 67 recommendations in one sentence, and names only 39 of them individually. Where a recommendation is not named, the response shown is the passage the response gives for the group it belongs to (the recommendations for organisations outside central government, or the recommendations to policing bodies), which is not a response to that recommendation alone; the response does not list the members of any group. The 10 recommendations for Phase 2 of the Inquiry to consider show no response: the response introduces them (paragraph 20) but answers none of them. The government accepts the recommendations that are for central government to deliver. Where a recommendation is for an organisation outside central government, the government's agreement is not that organisation's acceptance.

Government response

●Home Office · Accepted · 2 Jul 2026

Words of: HM Government, Government Response to Phase 1 of the Southport Inquiry (CP 1623), presented to Parliament by the Home Secretary, 2 July 2026

The Home Office is the lead department and expects to complete the implementation of this recommendation in mid-2026. Progress and next steps:
- The Home Office will issue a communication on the Knives Act 1997 to trade associations, online platforms and retailers shortly to highlight the requirements and criminal offences in respect of marketing of knives.
- The National Police Chiefs' Council lead for knife crime will also issue a similar communication shortly to all police forces in England and Wales about the Knives Act 1997.
- References to the restrictions in the Knives Act 1997 will be included in refreshed guidance being prepared in relation to legislation on bladed articles and offensive weapons, and which requires updating to take account of the new legislative provisions in the Crime and Policing Act 2026.
- The Home Office has provided £1.75 million in funding in 2026-27 for the establishment of a new National Knife Crime Centre, which will provide a national capability to tackle the unlawful sale of knives online.

Extract from: Government Response to Phase 1 of the Southport Inquiry

Delivery

No statement on delivery from Home Office has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.

How this page is built

The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.