1) Scope and purpose of the procedure document
1.1) This document informs you of Oxford City Council’s ASB Case Review (previously called Community Trigger) and how the process is managed. The ASB Case Review is a multi-agency project and as such, has been given approval by the Oxford Safer Communities Partnership. The Process will be managed by representatives of Oxford City Council and Thames Valley Police.
1.2) Oxford City Council’s Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) Policy provides the definition of ‘anti-social behaviour’ and sets out the principles of our ASB services.
2) The Council’s responsibilities
2.1) Oxford City Council believes no-one should tolerate anti-social behaviour and will use appropriate tools and powers available to local authorities to tackle all forms of nuisance.
2.2) These powers arise from three complimentary roles:
- As a landlord
- As an environmental protection champion
- As a Responsible Authority for the Oxford Safer Communities Partnership
2.3) Anti-social behaviour refers to any form of nuisance, disorderly or offensive behaviour, intimidation or harassment that impact on a person’s quality of life. Such a broad term can encompass everything from neighbours causing nuisance and drug dealing, to anti-social drinking and vandalism.
3) What is the ASB Case Review
3.1) The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill (2014) sets out measures which are designed to give victims and communities a say in the way anti-social behaviour is dealt with.
3.2) The ASB Case Review gives victims the ability to demand action, starting with a review of their case, where the locally defined threshold is met in order to determine whether there is further action that can be taken.
3.3) The ASB Case Review is a mechanism for a high level multi agency case review process. Where no effective action has been taken to tackle anti-social behaviour by specific organisations, stringent action plans are created with the complainant by the ASB Case Review Panel. The ASB Case Review can be activated by a victim of anti-social behaviour or another person acting on behalf of the victim with his or her consent, such as a carer or family member, Member of Parliament, local councillor or other professional.
3.4) The focus of the ASB case review encourages a problem-solving approach aimed at resolving persistent, complex cases of anti-social behaviour. The review is not a substitute or alternative format to a formal complaint’s procedure. The review panel are not able to investigate a complaint about the actions or services provided by a specific agency.
4) Threshold for Oxford ASB Case Review
4.1) If someone has reported Anti-Social Behaviour but no effective action has been taken, they will be able tell us about it under the ASB Case Review
4.2) The reporting threshold is: 3 or more qualifying complaints of anti-social behaviour relating to the same problem in the past 6 months to the Council, police or their landlord, and no effective action has been taken or 1 incident or crime motivated by hate in the last 3 months and no effective action has been taken.
What do we mean by no effective action taken?
- The reported problems have not been acknowledged – i.e., no one contacted the customer to advise what action would be taken. No action plan has been provided or statement of expectation has been available
- The reported problems have not been appropriately investigated. Lack of transparency and/or no update on agencies response to complaints
- The customers vulnerability and/or the potential for harm has not been considered and this has affected potential service delivery, i.e., no risk assessment has been taken
- No action has been taken because information has not been shared between partners and this has affected potential service delivery
4.3) Qualifying complaints - For the purposes of the ASB Case Review procedure, a qualifying complaint is:
- where the anti-social behaviour was reported within one month of the alleged behaviour taking place; and
- the application to use the ASB Case Review is made within six months of the report of antisocial behaviour
5) ASB Case Review Process Map
5.1) The following process map describes the journey of the ASB Case Review Process:
Plain text version of the ASB Case Review Process
Step 1
ASB Case Review Activated and confirmation receipt will be sent within 3 working days
Step 2
If applicable the Designated Officer to contact the complainant within 5 working days to carry out a risk assessment and ask for further information if applicable
Step 3
Designated Officer reviews the information to assess whether the threshold has been met within 5 working days of confirmation of receipt of the ASB Case Review application
Step 4
Designated Officer informs the complainant of the decision
If not met - ASB Case Review Closed (end of flow chart).
If met - Designated Officer to contact the Agency and Complainants to:
- request relevant information to be sent within an agreed time frame. The Panel will receive all supporting documents 5 working days prior to the Review Panel date
- arrange a date within a reasonable time frame for the ASB Case Review (go to step 5)
Step 5
Review Panel reviews all of the information, speaks to the complainant and agency which will inform an agreed response and recommendations
Step 6
Designated Officer informs the complainant and the Agency of the Review Panel’s decisions and agrees a date for recommendations to be completed
Step 7
ASB Case Review Closed (end of flow chart).
6) Assessment Process
6.1) Oxford City Council will acknowledge receipt of an ASB Case Review referral within 3 working days. The referral will be assigned to an independent Designated Officer.
6.2) The Designated Officer will review the referral and contact the complainant to carry out a risk assessment and if necessary, gather further information. The Designated Officer will seek permission from the Complainant to share the information with the Review Panel.
6.3) The Designated Officer will consider all the information and decide if the reporting threshold has been met. Designated Officer reviews the information to assess whether the threshold has been met within 5 working days of the ASB Case Review being acknowledged.
6.4) If the referral does not meet the threshold the Complainant will be encouraged to continue reporting anti-social behaviour to the appropriate agencies. The ASB Case Review does not replace the internal complaints procedures for each organisation, which will still be available to deal with any issues the Complainant may have with a single agency.
7) ASB Case Review Panel
7.1) Where the referral does meet the threshold, the Designated Officer will contact all key stakeholders involved in the complaint and inform them that the ASB Case Review has been activated. Stakeholders are to submit all relevant case files/reports and policies and procedures to the Designated Officer. All reports must be submitted no later than 7 working days prior to the date of the review.
7.2) The Designated Officer is to explain to the Agency that the ASB Case Review is a process of problem solving and finding solutions for the Complainant, not an investigatory complaints process. The ASB Case Review does not seek to lay blame for any potential failings. The Designated Officer will highlight the purpose of the ASB Case Review:
- ensure that appropriate levels of enforcement and support are either in place or have been considered
- take a problem-solving approach and not to lay blame on an agency for any potential failings
- where inadequate action has been highlighted, provide the Agency with recommendations and support on how to proceed with their case
7.3) The Designated Officer will contact partner senior managers and invite them to form the Panel. The Panel should include one of the individuals listed below. Other relevant partners may be invited to join the review panel. Panel members will be independent from the case to enable an external or
fresh perspective. Panel members will agree upon a Chair before the ASB Case Review takes place.
- Neighbourhood Inspector
- ASB Manager from a Registered Housing Association
- Oxford City Council Housing Manager
- Anti-Social Behaviour Manager
7.4) The Designated Officer will organise a date, time and location for the Review.
7.5) The Designated Officer will contact complainant(s) and invite them to send in written version of the case of their complaints/concerns for the panel to read and review. Written representation must be provided no later than 7 working days prior to the date of the review. Written representation provided after this timeframe will not be submitted to the panel. The reason being the panel must be given sufficient time to read and review the documents. This will ensure a fair and thorough review of the complaints.
7.6) The Designated Officer must supply Stakeholder and Complainant written representation no later than 5 working days prior to the date of the review.
7.7) The Designated Officer will invite the person who activated the ASB Case Review to the Panel meeting. Efforts should be made to ensure this person can attend the ASB Case Review should they choose. Alternatively, they can choose to send a representative in their place or request a representative to attend with them.
7.8) The Designated Officer will inform the Agency of the date, time and location of the Review and ask for a Representative to attend to answer any questions from the Panel.
7.9) The Designated Officer will organise for either a) an Officer to take minutes or b) a recording device to record the ASB Case Review
8) ASB Case Review
8.1) The Panel will look to review information about the case, considering if any new information needs to be obtained and review previous actions. The Panel can ask questions to all agency invitees during the Review. It is recommended the Panel explore the following areas:
- Risk assessments
- Vulnerabilities
- Response to reports of anti-social behaviour
- Multi-agency working
- Transparency over investigation process
- Customer expectations
- Support for the Complainant and/or family members as appropriate
8.2) Once all parties have provided representation, the Panel will review all available information and agree a response/recommendations. The ASB Case Review case report outlines recommendations and gives clear timescales as to when actions will be completed and by whom.
8.3) The decision will be signed off by the Chair and fed back to the Designated Officer by email.
8.4) The Designated Officer will inform the Complainant and Agency of the Review Panel’s response and recommendations. The Complainant will receive the Panel’s response within 10 days of the ASB Case Review Panel meeting. If there are complexities within the case which requires an extension of time the Designated Officer will inform the Complainant.
9) Appeals
9.1) If the Complainant disagrees with the Review Panel’s decision, they can appeal the decision by writing to the Chief Officer of Community Safety within Oxford City Council.
9.2) The Designated Officer will inform the Agency of the appeal.
9.3) The Designated Officer will forward the Case File and ASB Case Review outcome to the Chief Officer for review. The Chief Officer of Community Safety will forward their response to the Designated Officer within 5 days.
9.4) The Designated Officer will forward the response the Complainant and Agency.
10) Logging concerns for children, young people, or vulnerable adults
10.1) Oxford City Council aims to safeguard children, young people, and adults with vulnerabilities, and support their development as residents and members of the Oxford community. Please refer to Oxford City Council’s Safeguarding Policy or external partners policy for further details on raising concerns for Children, Young People or Vulnerable Adults. Oxford City Council Policy can be found on our Safeguarding pages.
11) Monitoring the service
11.1) The Oxford Safer Communities Partnership will reject those ASB Case Review deemed malicious or vexatious and ensure that the rationale for rejecting ASB Case Review applications are quality assured in order to withstand scrutiny via any complaints.
12) Professional discretion
12.1) Each case will be assessed on its own merits and use of discretion and professional judgement would be applied to include other factors as required.
13) Information Sharing
13.1) The effective operation of the ASB Case Review requires the relevant bodies to share information for the purpose of carrying out the Review. This may include details of previous complaints made by the Complainant, information about the effect the issue has had on others and details of what action has previously been taken. Relevant bodies should therefore have agreements in place for information sharing, risk assessments and a common understanding of the aims of the ASB Case Review. Complainants also need to give consent for information about them to be collected and shared between agencies.
13.2) The relevant bodies may request any person to disclose information for the purpose of the case review. If the request is made to a person who exercises public functions and they possess the information, they must disclose it. The only exception to that is where to share the information would be either:
- in contravention of any of the provisions of the General Date Protection Regulation 2016/679; or
- prohibited by Part 1 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.
13.3) Other than these two exceptions, disclosing information for the ASB Case Review does not breach any obligation of confidence or any other restriction on the disclosure of information.
