Service Standard: antisocial behaviour and hate incidents
This guide explains what you can expect from us when you report antisocial behaviour.
When you report antisocial behaviour to us, the report will be dealt with by our Community Safety team. They will:
- Respond to your report
- Keep your identity secret, unless you have given your permission for us to share it with anyone
- Investigate and gather evidence
- Take appropriate action to resolve the issue
- Keep you updated throughout the investigation – usually we’ll update you at least once a fortnight.
All cases reported to NCHA will be recorded as being in one of the following four categories:
- Hate incident - Where there is motivation for the anti-social behaviour due to the victim's inclusion within one of the protected characteristics groupings, i.e. their age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. We will respond to these reports within one working day.
- Personal – Where the victim has been personally targeted by the alleged perpetrator.
- Nuisance – Where the ASB causes annoyance to the local community in general.
- Environmental – Where the ASB is directed at the social environment.
Personal, Nuisance and Environmental cases will be responded to within three working days.
Taking action
What we'll do
When we are told about someone who has been the victim of antisocial behaviour, we will assess how vulnerable that victim is, and how much risk they face. We categorise the risks as standard, medium or high, and we use these levels to prioritise our cases.
We’ll work to gather evidence of what has happened. This work might include visiting the person who made the initial complaint (unless they have asked us not to do this, or it’s not necessary). We will speak to any other witnesses, as well as checking any CCTV that might help with the case. Where it’s appropriate, we will speak to the alleged perpetrator. We’ll talk to any other agencies that need to be involved, like the police, local council or social services team.
We will also agree a plan of action with the victim, and the person who made the complaint will be given a copy.
Making things right
We’ll start by using the lowest level of sanctions available to us. This might mean a verbal or written warning to the perpetrator. If problems continue, we will resort to more severe sanctions, from Acceptable Behaviour Contracts and injunctions up to and including eviction.
When a sanction is imposed, we will contact the person who made the complaint to check if the antisocial behaviour has stopped. We usually wait ten working days to do this.
Moving on
When we close a case, we will send a letter to the person who made a complaint. This letter will explain the work that has been done and the result achieved. It will also give an opportunity to provide feedback.
Where someone is not satisfied with our work, they will be re-assessed, and we’ll investigate any further work we can do.
