Holding(s) in Company

TR-1: NOTIFICATION OF MAJOR INTEREST IN SHARES

1. Identity of the issuer or the underlying issuerof existing shares to which voting rights areattached:

Silence Therapeutics plc

2 Reason for the notification (please tick the appropriate box or boxes):

An acquisition or disposal of voting rights

x

An acquisition or disposal of qualifying financial instruments which may result in the acquisition of shares already issued to which voting rights are attached

An acquisition or disposal of instruments with similar economic effect to qualifying financial instruments

An event changing the breakdown of voting rights:

Other (please specify):

CHANGE TO THE NUMBER OF VOTING RIGHTS IN ISSUE, FOLLOWING THE RECENT ADDITIONAL LISTING.

x

3. Full name of person(s) subject to thenotification obligation:

Aviva plc & its subsidiaries

4. Full name of shareholder(s)  (if different from 3.):

Registered Holder:

BNY Norwich Union Nominees Limited 169,007*

Chase (GA Group) Nominees Limited 3,917,463*

*denotes direct interest

Chase (GA Group) Nominees Limited 129,194

Chase Nominees Limited 72,658

Vidacos Nominees Limited 170,654  

5. Date of the transaction and date onwhich the threshold is crossed orreached:

08 May 2015

6. Date on which issuer notified:

11 May 2015

7. Threshold(s) that is/are crossed orreached:

4% to 5% Change at Direct Interest Level

5% Change at Combined Interest Level

8. Notified details:

A: Voting rights attached to shares

Class/type ofshares

if possible usingthe ISIN CODE

Situation previousto the triggeringtransaction

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

NumberofShares

NumberofVotingRights

Numberof shares

Number of votingrights

% of voting rights

Direct

Direct

Indirect

Direct

Indirect

Ordinary SharesGB00B9GTXM62

2,301,157

2,301,157

4,458,976

4,086,470

372,506

5.85%

0.54%

B: Qualifying Financial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of financialinstrument

Expirationdate

Exercise/Conversion Period

Number of votingrights that may beacquired if theinstrument isexercised/ converted

% of votingrights

C: Financial Instruments with similar economic effect to Qualifying Financial Instruments

Resulting situation after the triggering transaction

Type of financialinstrument

Exercise price

Expiration date

Exercise/Conversion period

Number of voting rights instrument refers to

% of voting rights

Nominal

Delta

Total (A+B+C)

Number of voting rights

Percentage of voting rights

4,458,976

6.39%

9. Chain of controlled undertakings through which the voting rights and/or thefinancial instruments are effectively held, if applicable:

The voting rights are managed and controlled by Aviva Investors Global Services Limited, with the following chain of controlled undertakings:-

Aviva Investors Global Services Limited:

· Aviva plc (Parent Company)

· Aviva Group Holdings Limited (wholly owned subsidiary of Aviva plc)

· Aviva Investors Holdings Limited (wholly owned subsidiary of Aviva Group Holdings Limited)

· Aviva Investors Global Services Limited (wholly owned subsidiary of Aviva Investors Holdings Limited)

Proxy Voting:

10. Name of the proxy holder:

See Section 4

11. Number of voting rights proxy holder will ceaseto hold:

12. Date on which proxy holder will cease to holdvoting rights:

13. Additional information:

Figures are based on a total number of voting rights of 69,801,624 as per the Company's 'Result of General Meeting and Additional Listing' announcement of 01 May 2015.

14. Contact name:

Neil Whittaker, Aviva plc

15. Contact telephone number:

01603 684420