Save the date. #ASB12 A New Dawn is coming.
In this week’s edition:
- Save the date: #ASB12 A New Dawn
- Last chance to book: Applying Judge Craft – 11th March
- Understanding and preventing ‘cuckooing’ victimisation
- ASB Case Reviews explained
- Back to basics: Notices Seeking Possession
- Weekly round up
Save the date: #ASB12 A New Dawn
We are pleased to confirm that the venue has now been secured for our 2026 conference – our 4th annual conference is coming back to Birmingham!
Date: 20 October 2026. Join Us For #ASB12 A New Dawn.
This year’s theme reflects a pivotal moment for the sector. The expected commencement of the Crime and Policing Act will bring renewed focus to powers, thresholds, expectations and partnership accountability. Services will be under sharper scrutiny. Decision making will need to be clearer, tighter and confidently evidenced.
At the same time, G&B ASB Associates enters its own new chapter. Same specialist focus. Same commitment to professional judgement and defensible practice. A sharpened identity aligned with the direction of travel in the sector.
#ASB12 A New Dawn will explore what effective ASB provision looks like as legislation shifts and expectations rise.
If your organisation has budget underspend to allocate before year end, this is the moment to secure places.
Last chance to book: Applying Judge Craft – 11th March
There is now only one space remaining on our Applying Judge Craft session taking place on Wednesday 11 March, 09:30 to 12:00.
This course consistently fills quickly because it addresses something fundamental to ASB practice: How decisions are made.
Managing ASB cases shares many similarities with judicial decision making. Officers must act impartially, gather and test evidence, ask the right questions, consider vulnerability and determine the most proportionate action.
Judge Craft training for judicial members focuses not on the law itself, but on how cases are managed, how parties are treated and how evidence is evaluated. The same principles sit at the heart of defensible ASB case management.
Communication.
Fair treatment.
Sound reasoning.
When these are missing, complaints, regulatory scrutiny and ASB Case Reviews often follow.
Delivered by Janine Green, an experienced judicial member, this session explores how core Judge Craft principles apply directly to ASB casework, including:
- Recognising and managing unconscious bias
- Adopting an inquisitorial approach to investigations
- Ensuring equal treatment and accommodating protected characteristics
- Weighing evidence appropriately and applying the correct standard of proof
If you have been considering this session, now is the moment.
Understanding and preventing ‘cuckooing’ victimisation
Cuckooing is an increasing issue across housing and community safety services. What was once viewed primarily through a county lines lens is now presenting more widely in tenancy management, safeguarding and ASB casework.
In a recent interview published by the School of Law at the University of Leeds, Dr Laura Bainbridge and Dr Amy Loughery discuss their new edited volume examining cuckooing victimisation from a multidisciplinary perspective.
Their research argues that cuckooing should be clearly recognised as a form of criminal exploitation targeting vulnerable adults, rather than framed in ways that risk implying complicity.
For practitioners, this distinction matters.
It influences:
- How vulnerability is identified and recorded
- Whether safeguarding runs alongside enforcement
- How information is shared across agencies
- How proportionality is assessed in tenancy and closure action
As cases increasingly intersect with closure powers, tenancy action and partnership panels, the conceptual framework matters. The way exploitation is understood directly shapes operational decisions.
ASB Case Reviews: A safety net, not a complaints process
In a recent article, Chris Nelson, Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire, has revisited the ASB Case Review process and the role it plays when victims feel that persistent behaviour has not been resolved.
Practitioners will be familiar with the mechanism. What is notable is the continued emphasis on making the process visible and accessible to victims.
As awareness of the Case Review process increases, services should expect greater use of it. The review is not about fault finding against an individual officer. It considers whether the collective response has been appropriate and whether further action could reasonably have been taken.
For practitioners, this reinforces the fundamentals:
- Clear case progression
- Documented risk assessment
- Evidenced partnership engagement
- Transparent and defensible rationale
Case Reviews sit within a wider accountability landscape. The focus is not only on outcome, but on whether decision making stands up to scrutiny.
Back to basics: Notices Seeking Possession
In a recent article, Emily Hope of Clarke Willmott revisits Notices Seeking Possession and highlights a recurring issue: technical errors that undermine otherwise well-managed cases.
For ASB practitioners, this is directly relevant.
Where possession action forms part of a wider ASB response, the strength of the case does not rest solely on evidence of behaviour. It also depends on procedural accuracy.
The Notice Seeking Possession is a prescribed form under the Housing Act 1988. Its wording and structure are set in legislation. Even small deviations, incorrect notice periods or incomplete particulars can invalidate proceedings entirely.
The article serves as a practical reminder to:
- Use the most up-to-date prescribed form
- Avoid unauthorised amendments to wording
- Include full legislative wording for each ground relied upon
- Provide clear and sufficient particulars
- Apply the correct notice period, particularly where multiple grounds are cited
It also revisits the specific timeframes attached to anti-social behaviour grounds such as 7A and 14, where misunderstandings around notice periods continue to cause difficulty.
In a climate of increasing scrutiny, procedural precision is not a technical footnote. It is part of defensible ASB case management.
Weekly round up
We are excited to launch to you this week our fourth annual ASB conference.
#ASB12TheNewDawn taking place this Autumn is going to be our biggest and most impactful conference yet, and the timing could not be more significant.
With the expected commencement of the Crime and Policing Act, services across housing, community safety and policing are preparing for a shift in powers, expectations and accountability. This conference is deliberately positioned at that point.
It will create space to examine what the new legislative landscape means in practice. How thresholds may be applied. How partnership working will be tested. How decision making will need to be evidenced.
Every year the conference has grown in scale and impact. This year feels different. It sits at a genuine inflection point for the sector.
If you are planning CPD, reviewing service readiness or looking to use remaining budget before year end, now is the time to secure your place. We look forward to sharing more about the programme in the coming weeks , and if you are interested in sponsorship or partner opportunities, do hit reply and we can start a conversation.
Have a great week,
Team G&B