His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) is an independent inspectorate that assesses and reports on the effectiveness, efficiency, and legitimacy of police forces and fire and rescue services in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The HMICFRS, has of the 28^{th of} August 2025, released a report as part of its police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy (PEEL) inspections,  assessing how well police forces record reports of crime. This report brings together findings from our 2016-20 CFI and 2021/22 and 2023-25 PEEL inspection programmes. The report outlined a few key takeaways that prove to be salient for ASB provision and the reporting for community safety, and highlighted some key improvements, and some areas of concern for the arena of reporting and data when it comes to ASB and community safety. Overall, it was found that there have been marked improvements in the way forces record crime, the percentage of overall crime the police have recorded has risen from 80.5 percent in 2014 to 94.8 percent in 2025. However, despite this progress, violent crime, including harassment, stalking and coercive control, remains less consistently recorded. This also remains the fact, for antisocial behaviour as for other crimes that disproportionately affecting women and girls. The way in which crime reporting is done for different crims disproportionately highlights that there is still very much a disparity between what victims of different crimes experience. Community safety has long been plagued by problems including, unstable definitions, irregular reporting and a paradox that sustains low reporting, and therefore drives diffuse aims for policymakers and frontline professionals. The ways in which crime is reported begs the question, how much of a solution is reporting, and how has and does data drive outcomes for community safety?

The report found a myriad of different problems in the way they record crime that involves ASB. Of course, we know that ASB is a persistent and insidious problem for many communities throughout England and Wales. ASB has a wide and often porous definition, oftentimes involving a crime or more than one crime, and as the report well articulates, in other instances it doesn’t involve a crime at all. Of course, this makes reporting and data collection a consistent problem that many agencies have battled with for years, with the government itself recognising data collection as a persistent and insidious problem that prevents effective, evidence-based policymaking from being undertaken (reference to be inserted here).

The report found significant issues with ASB provision, including that forces recorded only 51.9% of the crimes that they had closed as antisocial behaviour personal, of these unrecorded crimes, half were harassment. It was also found by the report that some forces didn’t understand when to correctly apply an antisocial behaviour personal closing code. The report states that ‘this level of crime recording is unacceptably low, and it means victims remain at risk of harm’. This tracks with our YouGov survey which details that 62% of people say that more needs to be done to tackle ASB, with 42% of people saying levels of ASB have increased in their local area compared to 3 years ago. We have continually called for removing barriers to reporting ASB, and we will continue to do so. As highlighted repeatedly in our YouGov surveys, at least half of victims and witnesses do not report ASB, in response to the most recent survey, 56% of victims and witnesses said that they did not report the ASB to anybody. (cite YouGov survey) As a result, we repeat one of our asks for government, for a national, long-term and comprehensive communications campaign focused on what to do as a victim or witness of ASB, the rights you have as a victim, and how to access support. This includes calling for a ‘one stop shop’ for reporting ASB. This would be one single phone number and one single website (and app) where anybody can report ASB as a victim or witness, and the report will be dealt with appropriately, without the reporter being told to report it to another agency.

 In our most recent YouGov survey, 39% of people also said they would be more likely to report if there was an option for anonymous reporting, so this should be built into the reporting platform too. Of course, where the police are involved, and therefore classify ASB, individuals are different situations with varying degrees of reasons, justifications and motivations. However, the fact remains, that reporting is consistently an issue, and data is therefore impacted. The Centre for Public Data have themselves reiterated that there are major data gaps including ‘how often ASB powers are used by police and local authorities’’ and that this ‘lack of data makes it hard to understand how often such powers are used’. (Centre for Public Data cite)

The report defines antisocial behaviour personal as ‘incidents that are deliberately targeted at or aim to affect an individual or a particular group’, it was also clear from the report that the often broad and ill-defined definition of ASB, and the misclassification from frontline forces on antisocial behaviour, contributed to a misreporting of ASB incidents. The report found, for instance, that some forces closed incidents with an ASB code, from incidents such as drink driving, a broken-down care in a lay-by and more. It was found in incidents that forces close as ASB personal, the level of crime recording is unacceptably low, meaning victims remain at risk of harm. One of the report’s principal recommendations is that forces need to ‘identify and record ASB and associated crime when they are first reported’, we know that ASB is mostly resolved in the first instance (cite inside housing), and therefore we also stress the importance of prompt and litigious reporting. The report closes with some pertinent next steps. HMICFRS states that as part of their 2025-27 ‘police effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy (PEEL) inspection programme’ they will continue to monitor how well forces record crime. Focusing on areas in which both on victims which are particularly vulnerable, including domestic abuse, and in which there are areas in which forces were not recording crime well enough, such as incidents involving ASB personal.

The role of data

ASB is underreported for a variety of reasons, in reviewing the ASB hotspot pilot, it was acknowledged that ASB is often under reported potentially resulting in ‘hot’ areas being missed (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/asb-hotspot-response-pilot-evaluation/asb-hotspot-response-pilot-evaluation). It was found from work done by Resolve, and the Local Government Association (LGA) that poor quality and inconsistent information sharing arrangements, in particular from housing providers to Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs), can delay in addressing instances of ASB (housing digital). Data and information play a vital role in tackling ASB, it both informs where best to place often stressed resources, tackle instances as quickly as possible and helps drive evidence-based policy in government.

Neighbourhood policing & data collection

Effective data collection and analysis are foundational to the delivery of responsive and place-sensitive anti-social behaviour (ASB) services. Police forces, particularly through neighbourhood policing teams, play a critical role in gathering and interpreting data that reflects the lived realities of communities. Evidence from the Home Office highlights the increasing reliance on data to identify ASB hotspots, allocate resources, and evaluate the impact of interventions. For housing associations and local authorities, this presents a strategic opportunity to collaborate with police in developing shared data frameworks that integrate tenancy management, environmental factors, and community feedback.

Neighbourhood policing teams, embedded within local communities, are uniquely positioned to collect real-time, qualitative intelligence that complements formal reporting mechanisms. Their proximity to residents enables the identification of emerging ASB trends that may not be captured through traditional datasets. As the Crest Advisory report emphasises, place matters — neighbourhoods actively shape the conditions in which ASB occurs, and therefore, data must be locally nuanced and contextually rich. Embedding neighbourhood policing within multi-agency data strategies ensures that ASB responses are not only reactive but preventative, rooted in a shared understanding of place and informed by frontline insight. In this context, robust data collection is not ancillary but essential — enabling evidence-led decision-making, fostering cross-sector accountability, and ensuring that interventions are proportionate and tailored to local need.

Policy Developments

There have been some notable policy developments for the role of data in driving forward best practice and ASB provision. Notably, the Crime and Policing Bill is introducing new ASB data reporting requirements by creating a power for the Home Secretary to make regulations requiring local bodies, such as councils and social housing providers, to report specified ASB data to the Home Office. It is recognised that current data on ASB that is held by the central government is severely limited, it is well known that there is currently no national data on volumes of ASB reports made to non-police agencies. There is also little data that highlights how agencies are using ASB powers in the 2014 Act, or how many ASB case reviews are conducted, for which we know there is a severe awareness and promotion problem of. It is hope therefore, that the Crime and Policing Bill, withstanding practical challenges, will help reinforce the ASB data collection picture in the UK and drive forward.

The Victims and Courts Bill is another major policy development for the progress of data collection and information sharing. Principally, the two clauses of note are Clauses 7 and 8. Clause 7 would allow the victims commissioner to request cooperation from local authorities and social housing providers in relation to anti-social behaviour. The clause would expand the category of bodies covered by the work of the commissioner, but only in relation to anti-social behaviour. It is worthwhile to note that the agencies would only be required to comply with this request, so far as it is ‘appropriate and practicable to do so’. Clause 8 would require the Secretary of State and the Attorney General to prepare an annual report on criminal justice bodies’ compliance with the Victims’ Code. Both of these clauses represent significant duties placed on relevant agencies and aims to improve information sharing and data collection on the provision of anti-social behaviour. We are currently working with the Victims’ Commissioner in order to best support them in the development of these new powers and responsibilities.

Conclusion

The policy process is moving favourably for data and information sharing. New duties in the Crime and Policing Bill and the Victims and Courts Bill look to improve how data is collected and shared. ASB is often resolved quickly when it’s reported early. That’s why we need to make reporting easier, clearer, and more consistent. Because when victims are heard, and data is strong, we can build safer, more confident communities. For more information around the details in this piece, or any other policy related questions, please contact:

Harrison Box, Policy Officer

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References

Cantrell, Mark. “Lack of Standard Data Sharing Prolongs ASB Misery.” Housing Digital, 20 Nov. 2024, housingdigital.co.uk/lack-of-standard-data-sharing-prolongs-asb-misery/. Accessed 16 Sept. 2025.

Cooney, Francesca, et al. Victims and Courts Bill 2024-25. 16 May 2025.

“Data Gaps on Anti-Social Behaviour in England & Wales: Why Stakeholders Are Calling for Better National Data.” The Centre for Public Data, Mar. 2023, pp. 2–3.

Hope, Tim. THE EFFECT of “THIRD PARTY” PRESSURE on POLICE CRIME RECORDING PRACTICE.

“How Effectively Do the Police Record Crime?” His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, 2025, hmicfrs.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/publications/how-effectively-do-the-police-record-crime/. Accessed 16 Sept. 2025.

Home Office. “Crime and Policing Bill: Antisocial Behaviour (ASB) Factsheet.” GOV.UK, 25 Feb. 2025, www.gov.uk/government/publications/crime-and-policing-bill-2025-factsheets/crime-and-policing-bill-antisocial-behaviour-asb-factsheet.

---. “Crime and Policing Bill: Antisocial Behaviour (ASB) Factsheet.” GOV.UK, 25 Feb. 2025, www.gov.uk/government/publications/crime-and-policing-bill-2025-factsheets/crime-and-policing-bill-antisocial-behaviour-asb-factsheet.

“Why Place Matters: Neighbourhood Effects on Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour.” Crest Advisory, 26 Aug. 2025, www.crestadvisory.com/post/why-place-matters-neighbourhood-effects-on-crime-and-anti-social-behaviour. Accessed 16 Sept. 2025.