Intensive support for people with complex needs involved in anti-social behaviour

This project was shortlisted for the Social Landlords Crime and Nuisance Group’s ‘Delivering results’ Awards 2009. The Group award is sponsored by ReACT.

The Elmore Anti-social Behaviour Intensive Support Service (ASB service) was established in November 2007 to pilot a partnership approach to reducing anti-social behaviour by:

• helping individual clients to recognise and manage their behaviour, address practical issues and increase appropriate use of mainstream services

• improving the ASB system so that it promotes early intervention, diversion, support and long term solutions rather than pure enforcement

• influencing national policy based on learning from local practice.

An evaluation of the project after 18 months established that there had been:

• fewer of incidents of anti-social behaviour
• a reduction in the number of anti-social behaviour contracts (ABCs) and anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs)
• fewer breaches of ASBOs
• less use of custodial sentences.

It costs an average of £3,450 for the ASB service to support a client for 12 months. It costs around £40,000 to keep someone in prison for the same period.

Background

In response to a growing realisation that enforcement alone was failing to resolve problems caused by the anti-social behaviour of a small number of people in Oxford with a range of complex needs, two-year funding was obtained for an innovative new service.

Working alongside the city of Oxford’s crime and nuisance action team (CANAcT), the local charity Elmore Community Services employs two full-time specialist support workers and a part-time team leader to identify and support vulnerable people engaged in anti-social behaviour. The team has additional support from social work students on placement.

The service works with:

• those with entrenched difficulties caused by severe and enduring mental health and substance misuse problems
• sex workers
• people in danger of losing their tenancy
• young people.

The model

Support work divides between therapeutic interventions helping clients to recognise and manage behaviour and practical support linking to mainstream services. The ASB service’s approach is one of personalised assertive engagement and support, combined with enforcement of acceptable behaviour.

The ASB service works intensively with clients to help them recognise the patterns of their behaviour, its impact on others and the consequences of breaking enforcement measures. It tries to help them address this behaviour by developing self-management techniques. The service ensures clients fully understand the ASB legal processes and provides comprehensive support throughout, including accompanying them and advocating on their behalf in court and custody if necessary.

The support workers aim to address each client’s wider issues such as accommodation, benefits, addictions and health needs.

Most clients are failing to access mainstream services appropriately, so a key intervention is to facilitate effective engagement with these services.

Partnership working

The support workers are based in the same office as CANAcT for part of the week, and work alongside enforcement officers. They attend regular problem-solving and casework meetings and case conferences. The two teams have very different work cultures and perspectives but both teams have changed their practices to achieve the shared objectives of better outcomes for both the public and the individual clients.

The independent evaluation report noted that:

• CANAcT is now working more holistically and considers the needs of the perpetrator as well as the community

• the ASB service has improved its engagement with statutory responsibilities such as child protection and its links with children’s services.

CANAcT now ensures that the ASB service has time to work with a client before considering court action.

As well as the local authority and police, partner agencies working with mental health, drug and alcohol, homelessness, sexual health, accident and emergency, youth offending, children’s social care and primary care have all benefited from more appropriate use of their services.

Partners interviewed for the evaluation said that pre-sentence reports used to be regarded as ‘pointless’ for chaotic clients, resulting in repeated custodial sentences. The ASB service now manages community orders on behalf of the probation service and succeeds in maintaining clients in the community and holding them to account.

Outcomes for individuals

Amongst the 48 clients included in the project evaluation:

• ASBOs had reduced by 60%
• ABCs had reduced by 77%
• the number of individuals being considered for further intervention had reduced by 76%.

Most service users were extremely positive about the help they receive from the ASB service, as the following quotes illustrate.

‘Elmore have been really good to me… they never ignore me… always fit me in… I trust them… they always do what they say they’ll do… even if things go wrong, they’ll be there for me… if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be here, I’d be on the street somewhere.’

‘I mess them around but they are always on my case - never give up on me – I respect them for that.’

The evaluation found that 56% of clients have improved their accommodation since becoming a client of the ASB service. A further 15% are in the process of improving their accommodation. Nine of the ten rough sleepers referred to the project were no longer on the streets but two others were evicted from supported housing and are now sleeping rough.

27% of clients had received specific money management advice, 17% were actively seeking paid or unpaid work and 25% had taken up training courses.

29% of clients had registered with a new GP and were engaging. 40% of clients were accompanied by ASB service staff to GP or clinic appointments and 27% had changed medication or received appropriate medication for the first time.

The future

The two year pilot was funded by the Tudor Trust through grants of £140,000 and by Oxford City Council which contributed £40,000. This funding will end in November 2009, but the service is close to securing additional funding to extend the pilot for a further two years. The service is looking at ways of involving service users in peer support and service development. It will also need to secure long-tern funding or else embed improved practice into mainstream services so that the positive outcomes can continue beyond the pilot phase.

Conclusion

The achievements of the ASB service can best be illustrated by a quote from the author of the evaluation report:

‘I have rarely been asked to evaluate a project held in such high esteem by stakeholders. There is consistent evidence from data and interviewees that the ASB Service is making a lasting impact on some of the most vulnerable and challenging citizens of Oxford and on levels of anti social behaviour, which can seriously affect the quality of life of others. They have also secured a significant shift in the attitudes and practice of partner agencies leading to a reduction in ABCs, ASBOs and ASBO breaches leading to custody.’