Anti-social behaviour (ASB) can have a debilitating impact upon a person’s health and well-being and a devastating effect on the wider community also.
Being scared inside your own home or even too frightened to leave your own front door is something that should not happen. However, unfortunately it does. ASB Help receive enquiries from ASB victims on a daily basis, struggling to know where to turn to, where to report matters to and seek advice as to what they can do about their situation. Luckily, there are a lot of effective non legal and legal tools out there to address ASB and these are used by organisations such as Local Authorities, Police, and housing providers up and down the country. Nevertheless, there are times when cases slip through the net and victims continue to suffer from ASB. It is in these circumstances whereby the ASB Case Review proves to be an invaluable tool. Introduced into legislation by the ASB Crime and Policing Act 2014, the ASB Case Review set out to provide victims with a voice and function as a safety net ensuring that the partner agencies work collaboratively together to determine the most appropriate solution.
As straightforward as this may sound, there is an enormous disparity across England and Wales in the administration and delivery of the ASB Case Review process, with various additional caveats being added to the threshold and in some areas a lack of an appeals process. In response to this inconsistency, ASB Help launched the PLEDGE which seeks to encourage all agencies involved in the ASB Case Review process to embed best practice into their policy and procedures and help us in our mission to ensure that the ASB Case Review is not a postcode lottery and that any victim of persistent ASB (when the threshold is met), regardless of where they live, are truly given a voice and partners work together and problem solve to secure a satisfactory resolution.
The word PLEDGE stands for:
Promote awareness:
Residents need to be aware of its existence. Resolve recently commissioned a YouGov Survey which found that only 6% of respondents had heard of the ASB Case Review.
Legislation and Best Practice:
It is vital that organisations comply with the legislation and the ASB statutory guidance.
Easily Accessible:
There should be multiple ways of making an ASB Case Review application, in writing, online, over the telephone, completion of a form, via a postal address, email address for example.
Development & Continuous Improvement:
There is always key learning to come out of an ASB Case Review and it is important to listen to this and act upon constructive feedback. It is also vital to stay abreast with national developments and reflect this in your ASB Case Review process.
Get talking:
Talking with the victim is paramount and they should be kept informed throughout the whole of the ASB Case Review Process. Likewise, its equally important to work in partnership with all the relevant agencies and develop a multi-agency problem solving action plan to address the ongoing ASB.
Empowerment:
The ASB Case Review was introduced into legislation to give victims a voice and for them to be actively listened to. This is integral to the ASB Case Review Process.
ASB Help welcome interested organisations to take a look at what the Pledge is and how subscribing to it will show your commitment to victims of anti-social behaviour. Please get in touch if you would like to be part of the PLEDGE or you would like to receive further information about it.
The ASB FAQ
The first step in taking the pledge would be to complete the self assessment/questionnaire and submit it to admin@asbhelp-co-uk.stackstaging.com. This can be found in the useful documents below
You can access ASB Help’s best practice guidance from the ASB Help practitioner website (coming soon!). All guidance is in word format to enable you to tailor it to your organisation.
We provide the following documents: A self-assessment checklist to inform your policies and procedures are legally compliant and incorporate best practice. We also provide best practice wording on the community trigger and an example terms of reference document to help govern review meetings. This covers contentious issues such as information sharing and how to formulate a strategy to bring an end to the anti-social behaviour as well as how to guarantee the victim’s voice is heard. We also provide a Chair’s pack and supplementary guidance on the range of legal and non-legal interventions available to practitioners to resolve anti-social behaviour. We will regularly add to this resource with up to date content we identify as being helpful to organisations.
No. ASB Help is a charity committed to helping victims of anti-social behaviour and we provide this guidance for free. ASB help can assist with more bespoke guidance which would involve visiting an organisation and reviewing their policies and procedures to offer best practice advice. A nominal fee to cover expenses would be requested. ASB Help can recommend consultancy services to assist with wider anti-social behaviour management. Please email ASB Help directly to obtain further information about this. ASB Help is not insured or qualified to provide legal advice. ASB HELP is a Registered Charity committed to helping victims and practitioners managing anti-social behaviour. The ASB Help charity number is 1152851. Email: www.asbhelp.co.uk
Joining the ASB Help PLEDGE shows the community you are committed to identifying and supporting victims of anti-social behaviour. It demonstrates your willingness to work collaboratively to bring an end to anti-social behaviour as well as steadfast determination to deter such behaviour in the future. By utilising ASB Help’s best practice guidance, you are signalling to stakeholder’s you have embraced the spirit of the community trigger and you are meeting your obligations to the community.
Yes, you can publish the ASB Help PLEDGE in your marketing material. ASB Help will also publicise your organisation has joined the PLEDGE but we reserve the right to remove any publicity if we identify concerns that an organisation is not adhering to the commitments in the PLEDGE.