SLCNG Annual Conference 2011

Many followers of this blog will know that ReACT is a major sponsor of the Social Landlords Crime and Nuisance Group and, as such, we all look forward to their annual conference which, this year, will be at the St Johns Hotel, Solihull on Tuesday 1^st and Wednesday 2^nd November. This conference is a must for anyone involved with ASB and the annual awards, now in their third year, are fast becoming accepted as “the” awards for nationally recognising best practice.

Last year’s conference was, in my opinion, a very successful event and you should not be put off attending this year’s conference either by the cost or by the location. I understand that the conference fees have been held at last year’s level and the venue is very convenient being only 2 miles from M42 junction 5 with plenty of on-site free parking, just half mile from Solihull rail station and 15 minutes from Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International rail station. Birmingham city centre is 8 miles.

The conference is again being organised by CIH Events and, for many, an important point is that bar prices will be cheaper than last year!

More on the awards which fall into four categories as follows:-

The Tim Winter Award

This award is open to any employee of a SLCNG member organisation who has gone above and beyond their remit and has tackled anti-social behaviour effectively. This could be someone who has been innovative, someone who has been creative or someone that’s been simply determined and inspirational.

The Best Practice Award – sponsored by HouseMark

This award is open to any project or initiative demonstrating measurable improvement in reducing anti-social behaviour and increasing community confidence.

The project or initiative may be specific to a particular neighbourhood or may be targeted on a particular client group or issue. For example, teams working with vulnerable witnesses, young people or ex-offenders; or teams that focus on local priorities such as burglary, arson and hate crime, would all be eligible.

The Residents Award – sponsored by Glasgow Housing Association

Standing up against anti – social behaviour requires exceptional courage. This award recognises the bravery and courage of an person or a group of local residents who have taken a personal stand against antisocial behaviour.

The Team Award – sponsored by ReACT

This award is for a group or a team that has provided an exceptional service in resolving anti-social behaviour in a specific neighbourhood. The team could be located within a single organisation or be drawn from across a range of local agencies and the community and will have worked together to achieve shared goals and be able to demonstrate measurable results.

Eligibility and making nominations

Applications must be submitted by a member of the SLCNG and members can nominate to as many categories as they wish.

The Tim Winter award is restricted to ASB Practitioners from a SLCNG Member organisation.

Persons nominated for the residents, team and best practice awards may be residents, housing officers, ASB practitioners or employees of another organisation involved in tackling anti-social behaviour and building confidence in communities.

More information and nomination forms are available at www.slcng.org.uk The closing date for nominations is 2^nd September 2011.

Judging is carried out by an awards panel which makes the awards based on the information provided in each of the nominations received. I am pleased to say that I will again be a member of the judging panel.

By Mike Blomer, MBE

ReACT and the ASB Review: see the video

We had a thought-provoking webinar on Monday, covering the implications of the ASB Review with Peter Jackson from Social Landlords Crime & Nusiance Group. In just under an hour, Peter set out the history and reasoning behind the review, together with the likely outcomes and impact on the housing sector. We also had the chance to hear about the future of the Respect Standard – something our audience voted overwhelmingly to keep! It was an excellent session, as one of our delegates, Clive Ledner, commented afterwards:

“I attend a lot of briefings and seminars on the subject of ASB and am highly conscious of the amount of time I’m away from the office (and the cost involved in travel). To be able to attend an informative briefing like this, without having to leave the comfort of my desk, is invaluable.

I had previously only scanned over the proposals after reading the bullet points. After hearing more detail from Peter Jackson on the implications of some of the new tools, e.g. losing the power of arrest and link to ‘interfering with the management function’ proposals for Crime Prevention Injunctions, it’s made me look at the proposals more closely with a view to feeding back on the Government consultation.” Clive Ledner, Accent Foundation

You can view our recording of “ReACT and the ASB Review”  or download the slides, free of charge.

Crime & ASB Conference & Exhibition

ReACT exhibited at this annual event, organised by Northern Housing Consortium (NHC), which was held at York Racecourse on 1st December. As you might expect the conference was seriously affected by bad weather.

Heavy snow the day before and on the day itself reduced delegate numbers to around 60 and a couple of speakers and exhibitors did not make it. Also some fairly essential items sent by courier and parcel delivery companies failed to arrive in time. Full marks to NHC staff who quickly rearranged the agenda which also enabled those present to get away an hour earlier than the scheduled end time of 4.15.

Having catered for far more than the 60 or so actually attending there was certainly plenty to eat at lunchtime.

By Mike Blomer

Social Landlords Conference – Live!

Did you attend the SLCNG awards?

Live from the Hilton Metropole Birmingham, no sign of Paris yet; however the ReACT team have been busy mingling and networking with a variety of delegates, almost exclusively ASB staff from housing associations, ALMOs and local authorities. Exhibitors include ASB software suppliers, training organisations, ASB professionals etc.

Last night’s awards were a resounding success with exceptional candidates of a very high standard.

  

 

The awards and winners were as follows;

Group Award sponsored by ReACT  – Derby Homes

Homes Tim Winter Award sponsored by SLCNG – Anita McGinley, South Essex Homes

Residents Award sponsored by GHA  – Alice Burke, Hackney Homes

Best Practice Award sponsored by HouseMark  – Whitefriars HG (Mossdale Project)

Sharon Mackley, Operations Manager, SLCNG said “Moving back to Birmingham has been a massive success, with more delegates than ever before. The feedback received from all delegates has been extremely positive. The fact that the Home Officer Minister for Crime Prevention, James Brokenshire, MP for Sidcup in Kent, attended and addressed the delegates was really welcomed and we look forward to partnership with him in the months to come”.

Jodie Willis from the Chartered Institute of Housing commented “this year`s annual ASB conference is a huge success and CIH have thoroughly enjoyed working with SLCNG”

The conference dinner was ended with an astonishing performance by a new up and coming band, The PI’s (or HouseMark as they are normally known). The buzz continues throughout the day, as the delegates have been extremely interested in gathering information about ReACT and finding out how we can support them and their ASB processes.

By the ReACT team at the Hilton Metropole Birmingham

SLCNG Annual Conference & Exhibition

A reminder to our readers that the SLCNG Annual Conference and Exhibition will be held on Tuesday 2^nd and Wednesday 3^rd November 2010 at the Hilton Metropole Hotel, National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham.

The event is the largest of its type and includes the annual SLCNG awards which at the closing date on 10^th September had received over 80 nominations for the four award groups. ReACT sponsors the “group” award “for exemplary practice by a group or a team in resolving ASB incidents or issues in a specific neighbourhood and delivering measurable results”.

As in previous years ReACT Team member Mike Blomer sits on the judging panel. Mike undertakes to “declare an interest” if a ReACT customer is in the running for the group award.

For more information about the conference, download the SLCNG delegate flyer, or go to:  www.slcngconference2010.com

ASB Management Day for just £275

The seminar day will be taking place at the Studio

As you may be aware, ReACT and ReSOLVE hold free webinars to support and guide users through certain aspects of the software. We have had a lot of interest and questions about our next webinar “Benchmarking and Best Practice” – more than we can cover in 45 minutes. Therefore, we are holding a joint open seminar with HouseMark, for everyone who wants to know about benchmarking, reports and best practice.

We also know budgets are tight, so we decided to keep the price as low as possible and keep your finance directors smiling.

Register now to secure your place.

Everything you wanted to know about ASB Management (but are too busy to ask)

It’s a dedicated day away from the office, allowing you to focus on ASB practices and reporting. You will have the undivided attention of two top experts in their field: Paul Johns (ReACT) and John Wickenden (HouseMark).

Topics include:

• Categories of ASB & Incidents (ASB Measure 02 & 05)                    
• Actions Taken to Tackle ASB & ReACT Stages (ASB Measure 03)
• ReACT Stages (Actions, Instructions & Reviews)                                               
• Case Outcomes & Case Closure (ASB Measure 04 & 06)                  
• Satisfaction Surveys (ASB Measure 07)                                                                  
• HouseMark Preview Report & Upload                                                                    
• HouseMark ASB Benchmarking Overview            

There’s also an extensive question and answer session allowing you to explore specific problems or areas with the consultants. 

Rooftop location, close to New Street station

We have booked The Studio in Birmingham. It’s  – literally – two minutes walk away from New Street station and within easy reach of car parks (if you are feeling brave enough to drive into Birmingham).

We also suspect the Studio is a retired TARDIS from Dr Who – you see a tiny internet café on the ground floor, hiding the large meeting rooms, restaurant and rooftop gardens on the top. There’s lots of natural light, comfortable breakout areas and a bar if you fancy networking afterwards.

No soggy sandwiches

You get muffins on arrival, unlimited tea and coffee and a two-course buffet lunch made from seasonal, local food. You will also be served cookies, fruit and water throughout the day – just to keep your energy levels up through the Q&A session!

One-time offer

Hiring Paul and John together at their standard day rates costs over £1,500. So a seminar place of £275 is a fantastic bargain. Both consultants are in demand and we won’t be able to run this seminar again for some time to come  – especially at that price.

Register now to secure your place.  

Diary Summary

Subject: ASB Management Day (ReACT & HouseMark)              Date: Wednesday 6th October; 10am – 4pm
Location: The Studio, Birmingham
Cost: £275 per delegate, inclusive of training materials, lunch and refreshments

What does the future hold for tackling ASB?

Low level anti-social behaviour, such as graffiti, form the majority of complaints. How will they be dealt with in the future? (Image by ukslim via Flickr)

By Mike Blomer

Given the unprecedented number of Government announcements on future changes to the way social housing landlords are expected to deal with anti social behaviour, it is no wonder that practitioners are getting in a bit of a tizzy.

From what I have seen, the majority view the proposed abolition of ASBOs with favour, believing they have outlived their usefulness, and that there are more effective tools available to deal with serious cases.

 I am also encouraged by the greater emphasis on identifying the risk of harm – not only to victims of anti social behaviour – but also, potentially, to witnesses and even perpetrators. At a recent CIH conference (Landlords Tools and Powers to Tackle ASB – 5^th August 2010), Chief Inspector Jim Baker explained the new policy of West Mercia Police on how complaints are to be dealt with. In particular, they are identifying the risk, impact, harm and vulnerability of people who become involved in complaints, in whatever capacity. Can we take heart from the fact that Paul West, Chief Constable of West Mercia Police is the ACPO spokesman on ASB and that the initiatives introduced in his area will be replicated nationally?

Meanwhile the pilot projects on the sharing of information continue and the Police Reform and Responsibility Bill is now out for consultation. Note that the consultation period has been restricted to just 8 weeks and covers a substantial part of the main holiday period.

Surprising domestic abuse stats

At the CIH Landlords Tools and Powers to Tackle ASB mini conference on 5^th August, I listened with great interest to Scott Richardson (Business Development Manager for Gentoo) talking about their approach to ASB prevention.

His slide on National Statistics for Domestic Abuse really caused a stir. Did you know that:-

• Domestic Abuse is the largest cause of morbidity worldwide in women aged 19 to 44 (that is greater than war, cancer and motor vehicle accidents).
• One in four women suffer Domestic Abuse from a partner
• 26% of homeless 16 to 25 year olds left home due to Domestic Abuse
• Domestic Abuse costs the UK an estimated £23 billion every year.

Such statistics highlight how prevalent the problem still is, despite its low media profile.

ReACT 4: coming soon

Here at EBS we are now developing ReACT 4 – taking all of our customer  requests for change and putting together the final specification for the new version. As you will see from previous blog posts, we are already trialling SMS texting with Deeplake, as well adapting ReMOTE for use with customer websites.

The first glimpses of version 4 will be available at our user group meetings mid-October; a chance for all users to network and discuss where the products move next. One of the main reasons for the success of our products is that we listen to our users and take on board their suggestions – after all these are the professionals who use the tools every day.

The user group meetings will take place on the 19th October in Birmingham and the 21st October in London. If you would like to come, please contact the ReACT team on 0121 384 2513. Customers can also email their account manager to secure their place.

The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) and Tenant Services Authority (TSA) launch its findings on ASB baseline survey

Following on from Kate’s blog last week, The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) and Tenant Services Authority (TSA) launched its findings of their recent anti social behaviour (ASB) baseline survey, at the TSA stand of the annual CIH Conference in Harrogate.

The results of the survey show that tackling ASB remains a priority for social housing providers despite the economic downturn, but more can be done to make sure ASB services deliver value for money.

Training

Most organisations that completed the survey feel that they are delivering effective training to their staff. However, supporting victims and raising public confidence is an area that 42% of organisations feel needs improving. Also, 32% would like to develop their staff’s access to peer support networks.

The SLCNG offer a varying array of training courses for RSL’s in tackling ASB.

Benchmarking

Although most landlords undertake some level of benchmarking, 20% do not regularly compare their services with those of other organisations. The majority of landlords seem to be missing opportunities to network with and learn from each other, with only 30% of landlords reporting that they help networking with other local RPs.

ReACT in collaboration with HouseMark have a one button press submitter of Benchmarking KPI’s that allow users to compare themselves with similar organisations using the profiling filters provided by HouseMark.

Value for Money

Although the vast majority (80%) of landlords have not undertaken any cost-benefit analysis in relation to their work on tackling ASB, 62% believe that they would benefit from doing so.

ReACT allows users to log Case Costs and these can be split in line with the Respect Toolkit guidelines of measuring External legal costs, clean up costs and Internal costs in relation to the management of tackling anti social behaviour.

Tools and Powers

Sixty-three per cent of respondents felt that their organisation made full use of the tools and powers available. However 28% said that they could improve. Surprisingly, landlords indicated that they were most unfamiliar with areas such as Acceptable Behaviour Contracts, Closure Orders, Demotion Orders, Injunctions and Parenting Contracts/Orders.

The SLCNG provide training and guidance in relation to the tools available to landlords to tackle ASB. In addition ReACT allows users to record any orders served against perpetrators, and this vastly improves the landlords ability to review and monitor any breaches.

Victim-Centred Approach

The vast majority of landlords (80%) said that they take a victim-centred approach to ASB case reporting and have effective partnership arrangements in place with local support agencies. Sixty-three per cent of landlords also told us that they would benefit from advice and support to improve measures in identifying vulnerability and support to protect witnesses.

ReACT allows users to record and monitor where victim support has been given to complainants and witnesses, it also allows users to record where external agencies have been involved in this victim centred approach.

Speaking at the launch of the report, CIH Chief Executive Sarah Webb said “Anti Social Behaviour can have a dreadful impact on individuals and communities, and housing professionals are often at the forefront of trying to tackle it. This survey gives a good understanding of how social landlords are responding to the challenge of ASB and its causes; and it shows where vital support, including the ASB action team, and also our policy and practice and training teams, can best support providers to learn and improve.”

If you require any further information about how the ReACT, HouseMark and SLCNG teams can assist your organisation please do not hesitate contact us at;

Email:	info@react-asb.co.uk
Telephone:	+44 (0) 121 384 2513
Fax:	+44 (0) 121 377 6014