How a collaborative approach is transforming ASB management

The challenge

For the past few years, Berneslai Homes has successfully used CMSG's ASB App and ASB Respect Line to manage anti-social behaviour across their housing stock. The digital reporting tools have proven invaluable in breaking down barriers to reporting, capturing real-time evidence, and ensuring residents have access to professional support outside office hours.

However, like many housing providers, Berneslai Homes found that some ASB cases naturally required involvement from the local authority - whether for enforcement powers, environmental health intervention, or broader community safety coordination. The challenge lay in maintaining continuity when cases moved between organisations, ensuring information wasn't lost in transition, and providing residents with a seamless experience regardless of which agency was handling their case.

The approach

In 2025, CMSG, Berneslai Homes, and a local Council took a groundbreaking step: extending both the ASB App and ASB Respect Line across the entire district, with both organisations working from the same platform. This represents the first arrangement of its kind where a housing provider and local council use these services in tandem to create a truly coordinated ASB response.

The partnership goes beyond simply sharing access to the same tools. CMSG developed a bespoke "transfer case" feature within the ASB App portals, allowing both Berneslai Homes and the local Council to seamlessly pass cases back and forth as circumstances require. When a case needs council enforcement powers, housing officers can transfer it with full case history intact. When ongoing monitoring is more appropriate for the housing provider, the council can pass it back with equal ease.

Resident experience

Crucially, this behind-the-scenes coordination remains invisible to residents. From their perspective, they continue to use the same ASB App they're familiar with, reporting incidents through the same interface, with voice recording, photos, and 24/7 accessibility. They receive the same professional out-of-hours support through the ASB Respect Line.

What changes - without them needing to navigate bureaucracy or repeat their story - is that the right organisation is working on their case at the right time, with full visibility of everything that's happened before.

The benefits

For residents:

• Single point of contact for reporting, regardless of which agency handles their case
• No need to understand organisational boundaries or navigate referral processes
• Continuity of support as cases progress
• Confidence that information isn't lost when cases escalate

For Berneslai Homes:

• Ability to escalate cases requiring council enforcement powers without losing oversight
• Maintained case history when cases return for monitoring
• Stronger partnership working with clear communication channels
• Shared intelligence on ASB patterns across the district

For the local Council:

• Full case history is immediately available when cases are transferred
• Ability to involve housing providers in monitoring without duplication
• Better understanding of ASB trends across all housing tenures
• More efficient use of enforcement resources

For the Partnership:

• Elimination of information silos between organisations
• Reduced duplication of effort and case management
• Faster decision-making on appropriate interventions
• Stronger evidence base for enforcement action
• Improved data sharing

A model for the future

This partnership demonstrates what's possible when housing providers and local authorities move beyond traditional boundaries to create genuinely joined-up services. Rather than operating parallel systems that occasionally intersect, Berneslai Homes and the locasl Council have adopted a unified approach that serves residents more effectively while better leveraging each organisation's strengths and capabilities.

Jayne Ambrose, ASB Team Leader and Berneslai Homes, said: “Effectively tackling anti-social behaviour is fundamental to making sure tenants feel safe and supported in their homes. Through strong partnership working with the Council’s Safer Neighbourhood Services, we can improve communication, make timely and informed decisions, and closely monitor cases. The collaborative use of the ASB App and Respect Line strengthens our joint approach to investigating and addressing anti-social behaviour, providing a consistent and accessible reporting process for tenants.”

The success of this arrangement has attracted interest from other areas looking to strengthen multi-agency ASB responses. The model shows that with the right technology platform and a commitment to partnership working, it's possible to maintain organisational accountability while delivering a seamless service to communities.

Looking forward

As the partnership matures, both organisations continue to identify opportunities to refine processes and improve outcomes. The shared platform provides rich data on ASB patterns across Barnsley, informing strategic decisions about resource allocation and intervention approaches.

For CMSG, the bespoke case transfer functionality developed for this partnership is an evolution in how digital tools can support multi-agency working - not just providing information, but actively facilitating the smooth coordination that effective ASB management requires.