ASB policy

March 2023

1 - Why we have this policy

Anti- Social Behaviour (ASB) can include a range of nuisance and or criminal behaviours which can negatively impact and/or cause significant to our customers. We want our customers to feel safe and secure in their homes and neighbourhoods and therefore tackling ASB affecting our customers is a key priority for us.

It is important for us to investigate and understand the root cause of any reported ASB and how each incident impacts both physically and emotionally on the complainant(s) and potentially the surrounding neighbourhood.

This policy offers guidance on what ASB is and how we will work with customers and partner agencies to:

understand the drivers for ASB and minimise its occurrence
respond to specific incidents of ASB
protect those who report ASB

Importantly this policy provides clear guidance on what we expect of our customers.

2 - Our approach to managing anti-social behaviour

We’ll balance prevention, intervention and enforcement with support and signposting to other services so our homes and communities are safe and inclusive places to live.

We’ll do this by:

making it easy for all customers to report their concerns to us, including online and through social media
Providing information on, and signposting to, other agencies that may be able to help
treating all reports, including those from private residents the same
encouraging customers to report incidents to the police where appropriate
being clear from the start about what we can and can’t do and why
providing clear, accurate and impartial advice
communicating with complainants regularly and in the way they prefer
investigating and responding to reports quickly and thoroughly
assessing the harm and its impact upon customers and communities
taking timely, decisive and robust action which is reasonable and proportionate
wherever possible, finding out what is causing the behaviour and directing perpetrators towards help
making sure perpetrators are aware of the impact and consequences of their actions.

3 - The role of our customers

Everyone has the right to live how they like – as long as it doesn’t have a negative impact on anyone else’s quality of life.

Our customers have a part to play in resolving anti-social behaviour, so we’ll ask them to:

be tolerant of others as well as accepting differences in lifestyle
keep to the terms of their lease, tenancy or occupancy agreement and make sure they, their family and visitors don’t take part in any anti-social behaviour
address the issue before we get involved by talking to their neighbours, but only if it’s safe for them to do so
keep appointments with us or any other organisations involved
take part in mediation or other solutions focused activities if they are offered
give us evidence such as incidents logs, noise recordings, witness statements and attend court if needed.

Please note:

It’s not ok for customers to be abusive to our team/people – where this happens we will take action to address this.
If customers don’t help us (as above), we might not be able to take any action to stop the anti-social behaviour they’re reporting.
If customers make false allegations or excessive allegations about very minor issues, this may be considered as harassment and might take action against them.

4 - Defining anti-social behaviour and hate related incidents

We describe anti-social behaviour as behaviour that has caused or is likely to cause harassment, alarm, or significant distress to others. This includes behaviour by customers, their household or visitors, impacting others in that neighbourhood. (Residents not of the same household. We have a separate Domestic Abuse Policy). We will also support our statutory partners, such as the police and local authority teams to address anti-social behaviour impacting our customers where the perpetrators are not SNG customers.

There are some things we won’t investigate as ASB. However, we will endevour to provide the customer with advice on how they might resolve the issue or address issues through our Neighbourhood or Tenancy management policies.

These include:

parking issues
children playing
pet related nuisance
domestic noise or one off parties (unless linked to other ASB)
social media disagreements (we suggest other solutions such as blocking the offending person or reporting unwanted behaviour to the social media provider and police).

We take all hate crime seriously. These crimes can have severe and long-term effects on customers, their families and neighbourhoods. A hate crime or incident is any behaviour which the victim or another person thinks is motivated by a prejudice or hate because of the victim’s difference or a perceived difference.

Generally hate crime includes behaviour motivated by the victim’s:

race
religion
sexual orientation
disability
gender identity – including transgender.

We will also investigate any prejudice or hate incidents motivated by the victim’s:

age
immigration status
nationality
lifestyle and personal appearance, like being punk or goth.

We value the diversity of our communities and want our customers to feel safe and secure in their homes. Customers can be targeted/harassed because they’re perceived to be different. If they think this is the case we’ll respond within one working day.

5 - Preventing anti-social behaviour

One of the ways we’ll prevent anti-social behaviour is by carrying out checks before customers move into our rented homes.

As part of these checks, we’ll ask if:

They have a recent history of anti-social behaviour. This may mean we won’t be able to house them – we will establish the facts and clearly explain our reasoning.
What support they might need to meet the terms of their tenancy agreement with us.
If they need support, we’ll work with other agencies to make sure this is in place.
We don’t carry out checks of customers moving into our shared ownership homes as different rules apply to these homes.

We’ll also:

allocate homes sensitively, especially where customers are vulnerable or have been victims of anti-social behaviour before
ask customers to resolve minor nuisance and lifestyle issues themselves
develop communities which are designed to reduce the potential for anti-social behaviour
when possible, carry out estate improvements to improve safety and security.
Work with local policing teams, community safety partnerships.

6 - Responding to anti-social behaviour

Our response will vary for each case and will be tailored to the circumstances of the case and people involved.

Depending on the circumstances of the case, we might:

take time to speak with everyone involved, understanding each person’s views
advise customers on how they could change their behaviour to improve their relationship
carry out a risk assessment to assess the impact on the victim and community
talk to others who might have witnessed the incident.
refer to funded mediation services

We’ll always:

be clear if it’s anti-social behaviour or not
take the most effective and realistic course of action, explaining this to all involved
consider the vulnerability of those involved so our response is ‘reasonable and proportionate’
let complainants know if we’re closing a case and tell them what to do if the behaviour starts again.
work in partnership with the police and other agencies where appropriate

Response times:

We’ll initially respond based on the risk assessment scoring for the case.

Risk level	Response time
Priority 1	24 hours
Priority 2	48 hours
Priority 3	72 hours

7 - Tackling anti-social behaviour

When investigating a case we’ll work with customers and may:

offer early intervention to our tenants and their families, such as mediation
resolve the matter as quickly as possible
rebuild relations between neighbours.
use acceptable behaviour agreements and mediation services
issue warnings and cautions to deter future anti-social behaviour
use the full range of legal tools available such as injunctions, or possession action as appropriate
encourage perpetrators to change their behaviour, making use of referrals to drug and alcohol services, mental health services and various voluntary organisations
share information and work with the police and other agencies.

In all cases we’ll agree an action plan with the complainant which details who will do what and when. It will also agree how we’ll approach ongoing communications on the case. E.g. how often and by what method contact should happen.

We will share information with organisations such in line with the Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

If we think the complainant or their family is in immediate harm we will tell the police or local authority. In some cases this may be without their permission.

Please refer to our Domestic Abuse policy for more information.

8 - Protecting complainants and those who are vulnerable

We’ll always think about the wishes of victims of anti-social behaviour, and do our best to understand how the behaviour makes them feel and how it impacts on them and their family.

We’ll do this by:

risk assessing all reports and shaping our response depending on the level of risk
prioritising vulnerable customers or those being targeted as part of hate crime
meeting residents in a place where they feel safe
offering customers in our rented homes the choice of meeting with a male or female member of our team
being sensitive to the diverse needs of victims and children irrespective of gender, race, religion, age, disability or sexual orientation
listening to and respecting the complainants perception of the incident
make sure we fully consider any prejudice or hate crime they’ve experienced
we’ll try to protect and help complainants stay in their homes, but in exceptional cases we may work with the local authority to move customers to alternative accommodation - normally we’ll need support from the police and specialist agencies to do this.

9 - Supporting witnesses

Standing up to anti-social behaviour can take a great deal of courage. But witnesses often have the crucial evidence we need to resolve the matter.

We’ll support witnesses by:

working with partners to provide protection and extra security, such as emergency alarms or CCTV
only sharing information in line with the Data Protection Act and GDPR
providing support on a case by case basis
paying for travel costs & lunch if we ask them to attend court as a witness
explaining what will happen at court and letting them meet our solicitor first
giving them the name of a dedicated officer they can call upon for support if needed
removing offensive graffiti with 24 hours
respecting their wish to remain anonymous (though this may limit the action we can take)
referring them to other agencies such as Victim Support.

10 - Helping people to change their behaviour

Some perpetrators are vulnerable and their behaviour might be the symptom of other problems like mental health or addiction.

We’ll always put the victim first, but when the perpetrator (s) are willing /able to change their behaviour we’ll:
try to understand the cause of their behaviour
see if they need additional support and help them access it
be clear about the consequences of their behaviour and the action we’ll take
encourage them to positively engage with support agencies to change their behaviour
make sure that any legal action requires perpetrators to use support services
encourage them to engage with the victims to try to put things right.

If the perpetrator doesn’t engage with support services or change their behaviour we’ll take legal action against them and use this as evidence.

11 - Working with partners

We can’t resolve every incident of anti-social behaviour alone, especially if it’s a crime.

We’ll develop and maintain positive and productive partnerships with the police, local authorities and specialist community or advocacy agencies to help them take action.

If we feel that another agency like the police is better able to deal with the matter, such as if it’s a crime, we’ll direct the customers to them. We’ll work with the agency to support their investigations and share information. We’ll be clear when we expect them to take the leading role.

If any other agency or organisation fails to protect our residents we’ll escalate the matter within their organisation until we reach a satisfactory outcome.

12 - Requesting a review of our case handling

If a customer feels we haven’t kept to our Anti-Social Behaviour Policy, they can ask us to review our management of the case via the complaints process. If you are still unhappy you can escalate to stage 2 of our complaints process and a different/senior manager will carry out this final review. Any customer who remains unhappy with our responses has the right to go to their MP or the Housing Ombudsman.

Customers also have the right to invoke the Community Trigger (Soon to be ASB Case Review) if they feel SNG and or its partners have not managed their case properly.

The Community Trigger/ASB Case Review is accessed via the local authority and if the case qualifies may lead to an independent review of action and recommendations being made.

13 - Our commitment to customers and employees

Our commitment is to make sure that no individual or group experiences unfair, discriminatory, or prejudicial treatment in recruitment, pay or promotions, housing, or any other service we provide, such as lettings, tenancy advice, repairs or rent collection.

We strive to be an open, inclusive, and diverse organisation where everyone has a right to be treated with dignity, fairness, and respect. As an organisation we value the diversity and talents of all individuals and the richness that brings to our culture.

We understand the varying needs of our customers and communities and promote equality of opportunity in employment and service provision. We deliver appropriate, accessible, and flexible services, being tolerant, understanding and not judging others or their lifestyle choices. We stand up to and challenge prejudice, discrimination, and harassment in all its forms.

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