Community Harm Statement
Guidance notes for social landlords
Learn with us. Improve with us. Influence with us
|
www.cih.org
2
Introduction
The Community Harm Statement (CHS) is aimed primarily for use by social landlords, as a practical tool to highlight
the impact of harm on a community caused by anti-social behaviour (ASB). However, it will be necessary for social
landlords to work collaboratively with partner agencies to complete the statement.
The primary objectives of the CHS is to:
•
assist the judiciary when using legal sanctions by creating a consistent approach to the presentation of cases
to court by social landlords, and to provide the court with a concise summary of evidence presented
•
support a balanced and proportionate approach to an assessment of harm, by demonstrating the harm caused
to a community as well as the human rights of the perpetrator
•
encourage a consistent approach by landlords in ASB case management.
The development of the CHS was facilitated by Department for Communities and Local Government who asked the
ASB Action Team based at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) to lead the project working with key partners in
the sector. It was developed and tested by the ASB Action Team, working with Kettering Borough Council, social
landlord representatives, Social Landlords Crime and Nuisance Group, and a number of other partners. CIH would
also like to thank Michael Singleton, Barrister at St Ives Chambers for his advice in developing the CHS.
When to use the Community Harm Statement
Opportunity
Purpose
Legal proceedings
•
•
•
•
Case management
and non judicial tool
• supports evidence based decision making processes based on harm caused to a
community
• use in conjunction with effective case management structures to test robustness of
case management and review processes
• use at case review meetings to test for reasonableness and appropriateness of
action
• a tool for landlords as part of a holistic approach in understanding the wider risks
of harm and impact upon a community, for example: multi-agency meetings, case
conferences
• for use by non judicial review structures such as neighbourhood resolution panels
and introduction tenancy review panels to ascertain impact and harm upon a
community caused by the perpetrator
• to support restorative solutions when dealing with perpetrators to change
behaviour. Ensure confidentiality and obtain consent from all parties.
Partnership tool
• to highlight the wider impact of ASB to partner agencies and inform decisions to
address impact of harm to communities
• to ensure that accountable bodies such as Police Crime Commissioners, MAPPA
panels and Case Conference panels are fully aware of the impact of ASB in their
area of responsibility
• to encourage all partners of multi-agency partnerships to contribute to solutions.
to summarise and emphasise the impact of harm on the community
as an exhibit to the claimants statement (NOT a replacement of witness statements)
as a Pre Court Protocol
to deliver consistency in court documents submitted by social landlords and ease
court pressures in relation to session resources.
3
Adopting the Community Harm Statement
The CHS can be used by any social landlord, and their partner agencies. However, where a social landlord chooses to
use the CHS it should consider how this is reflected within procedures to ensure it is used in a consistent and equal
manner. This will reduce the risk of challenges, to the landlord, regarding compliance with existing policy and
procedure, either by the defence representative or the ombudsman in relation to the management of ASB cases.
Different landlords will also have different procedures for authorising legal action and these practices should be
applied to the CHS. The CHS requires two signatures as it is generally good practice to ensure that where legal
action is being considered the case has been reviewed by more than one person.
How to complete the Community Harm Statement
General
The CHS form is designed with some guidance incorporated. This guidance, in the shaded area on the right, is
designed to act as a prompt during completion. The issues identified are not exhaustive and those that are listed will
not all be relevant in every case e.g. guidance in the ‘Harm caused to the community’ section provides a list of
potential areas for consideration but many of these may not be relevant in the case being dealt with. Following
completion of the CHS the shaded guidance area should be deleted so that the form just contains the issues relevant
to the case.
Introduction
The text in the introduction is designed for when the CHS is being used in court proceedings. There are two
elements which need to be completed according to the type of the tenancy and sanction being sought. Where the
CHS is being used in a non judicial environment this introduction can be replaced with appropriate wording for
the use.
Section 1: Summary of anti-social behaviour
Information should summarise the key details of ASB that has occurred. Detailed information of each individual
incident should be covered separately within the case management file.
Section 2: Background information
Provide a short paragraph to identify who in the community is being affected by ASB and how the information has
been gathered. Do not identify individuals but demonstrate the extent of the harm to the community as a whole.
Section 3: Community profile
The community profile seeks to describe the community that is being affected by ASB. The definition of ‘community’
may be decided locally as this could include a large housing estate or a specific block of flats for example. It may also
refer to a community of individuals.
Section 4: Harm caused to the community
The CHS is designed to capture the harm caused to a community so it is important to use information/evidence
gathered within a case to describe the wider impact as opposed to individual impact which will be covered
elsewhere. In legal cases assertions should not be made unless they are supported by evidence within the case
papers.
Each community harm, ‘CH’, in this section should be accompanied by an appropriate title of the incident/harm
caused e.g. ‘CH1: Fighting in Communal Hallway’. This will enable the claimant to focus on the specific incident and
explain the specific harm caused to the community.
4
Where possible, include the number of residents that were affected by each community harm.
It is useful to record timeframes when identifying harm caused to a community e.g. ‘not slept in 3 days’, ‘signed off
from work for 2 weeks’ etc.
Section 5: Impact on community resources
Whilst it is important to capture the direct harm caused to a community, it is also important to evidence the indirect
harm such as:
•
•
•
•
increased cost of service provision, such as extra police patrols, 24 hour support, additional security
impact on sustainable communities, such as lettings problems, failed tenancies, neighbourhood decline
additional resource requirements
include statistics such as costs, and perception survey results if they are available and relevant to the case.
Further advice and support
The CIH ASB Advisors can support your organisation to implement the CHS. For more information contact:
Chris Grose 0795 1053617 [email protected] or Tess Ash 0795 1056936 [email protected]
A number of organisations started piloting the CHS in 2011 and have fully adopted the approach. These
organisations are the CHS champions and if you have any queries about implementation please contact one
operating in your region:
Kettering Borough Council – Anne-Marie Loughran 01536 534287 [email protected]
Sovereign – Vicky Newbert 01635 572115 [email protected]
Viridian Housing – Alex Wrigley 0203 202 3637 [email protected]
Helena Partnerships – Joy Wilson 01744 675706 [email protected]
Solihull Community Housing – Sherry Studholme 0121 779 8853 [email protected]
South Essex Homes/SMAART – Anita McGinley 01702 423504 [email protected]
Stockport Homes – Claire Wakefield 0161 474 4403 [email protected]
TOR Homes – Julie Bingham 01392 814584 [email protected]
Gloucester City Homes – Victoria King-Lowe 01452 424344 [email protected]
Taunton Deane Borough Council – John Hart 01823 356332 [email protected]
Community Gateway Association – Sue Roach 01772 268101 [email protected]
For further information and case studies from the landlord pilots please visit the CIH ASB practice hub:
www.practicehub.cih.co.uk
Steering group and advisor partners
Deliveri ng excellent ser vic es