Laura Penny, ASB & Community Safety Apprenticeship Trainer at Intelligencia Training, discusses the rising prevalence and increasing complexity of anti-social behaviour (ASB). She emphasises the importance of early intervention and the need for multi-skilled and collaborative solutions to effectively address ASB and enhance community confidence
In recent years, anti-social behaviour (ASB) has re-emerged as a visible and persistent concern for local communities across the UK. From street-level intimidation and noise complaints to persistent neighbour disputes and violence. ASB has far-reaching effects on individual wellbeing and public trust. While such behaviour is not new, the increase in its prevalence in some areas has prompted questions not only about social dynamics but also about structural and economic factors. Has the cost of living crisis played a role in the rise in ASB?
Austerity became an accepted notion in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and was further established in subsequent years, such as post-COVID. The economy shrank by 9.8% in 2020, and recovery was slow, rising steeply between 2021 and 2022. This has fundamentally reshaped the infrastructure of community support due to funding cuts across local governments. Policing, youth services, mental health provisions, and housing support have left many communities with reduced resilience. As a result, ASB has often gone unchecked, and the burden of response has increasingly fallen on overstretched front-line staff.
However, do the consequences of austerity extend beyond a lack of resources? It raises the question: has it changed the character of anti-social behaviour itself? Where issues might have centered on low-level nuisance, many frontline practitioners now report more complex, overlapping behaviours involving mental-ill health, substance misuse, and acute social vulnerability. In September 2024, statistics showed that there was surprisingly a 1% decrease in cases of ASB. However, despite the decline in reported incidents, public perception increased. A public survey indicated a 2% increase in people witnessing or experiencing ASB. These cases, therefore, don’t only require a skilled response and enforcement but also careful assessment, early intervention, and multi-agency collaboration to ensure the public feels confident reporting it in the first place.
From cuts to consequences: Why ASB is rising
The link between deprivation and anti-social behaviour is well established. Data indicates that ASB is twice as prevalent in the most income-deprived areas, as opposed to the least. Recent research has highlighted how welfare reform and local authority cuts have not only deepened poverty but also widened the opportunity gap for young people, increased housing insecurity, and eroded access to support services. In some of the most deprived areas of the country, youth centers have closed, neighbourhood police teams have shrunk, and community wardens have vanished altogether.
The result is both a lack of informal social control and a rising sense of disorder. Austerity breeds anger and frustration, which have led to protests and riots, enshrined in ASB activity. Communities that once had a visible support presence are now grappling with escalating tensions and fewer places to turn for help. For instance, young people with nowhere to go and no access to support are more likely to become involved in disruptive or harmful behaviour. This could also explain the rise in disruptive and violent behaviour among students, with over 80% of teachers nationwide reporting worsening behaviour.
A shifting role: The challenge for community safety officers
The impact of these structural changes has placed community safety professionals at a crossroads. No longer is the role defined solely by reacting to complaints or enforcing legal powers. Increasingly, ASB officers and community safety professionals are required to think like investigators, negotiators, mediators, advocates, and case managers, often all within the same case.
Where previously a neighbour dispute may have been resolved with a conversation or a warning, today’s officers are faced with high-risk individuals, entrenched harm, or cross-border issues that demand complex and collaborative solutions. Vulnerability has become a recurring theme, whether through trauma, disability, or mental health. Meaning the skill to risk assess and understand vulnerability is vital.
Consequently, the importance of robust, targeted training has never been clearer. Officers must not only understand the legal powers at their disposal but also how and when to use them ethically and proportionately. They must be able to gather and assess evidence, manage risk, work with diverse partners, and respond in ways that strike a balance between enforcement and support.
Responding with professionalism: The importance of skills-based practice
This shift calls for a new generation of professionalised, reflective, and accountable practitioners. It also calls for training that moves beyond just learning content or a narrow legislative focus, but instead equips practitioners with the full breadth of knowledge, skills, and behaviours needed to respond to modern ASB challenges. Skill-based practices, to really understand the why.
That includes understanding how to assess vulnerability, apply trauma- informed practice, and use informal interventions or mediation before escalation becomes necessary. The lack of reporting highlights the importance of being able to work within multi- agency forums with conviction and clarity to increase community confidence. Importantly, it’s also about mindset, about embedding ethical awareness, emotional intelligence, and reflective practice into the heart of ASB response. Preventing escalation and protecting communities. Since their establishment, Police and Crime Commissioners have also attempted to address ASB in response to the Victims’ Commissioner’s report on persistent ASB. They have been notably instrumental in the coordination of ASB case reviews, designed to address the victims’ concerns and increase their confidence.
In the wake of austerity, the ability to act early and proportionately is not a luxury; it is a necessity. With police, health, and social care services also under pressure, the burden of local problem-solving increasingly falls to ASB professionals. Their ability to defuse conflict, coordinate support, and manage behaviour directly shapes the safety and cohesion of the communities they serve.
As the country continues to contend with the long-term effects of austerity and its impact on public trust and wellbeing, there has never been a more important time to focus on the people on the frontline of community safety. Recognising complexity, responding proportionately, and acting early. Effective training plays a vital role.
The wide skill set that ASB and Community Safety Officers require is plain to see, and therefore, the recognition of a robust training pathway is essential. The Level 4 ASB & Community Safety Officer apprenticeship delivered by Intelligencia Training recognises just that. As the lead organisation for apprenticeship training within the Protective Services sector, we are perfectly placed to deliver tailored training for those working within ASB and community roles.
This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International.
