PCC highlights Baroness Newlove’s legacy supporting ASB victims

Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen has welcomed the publication of Baroness Newlove’s final report and highlighted the legacy of change she inspired in County Durham and Darlington.

The report covers Baroness Newlove’s final year as Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales prior to her passing in November 2025 and marks her lasting contribution to ensure victims are recognised and supported in the criminal justice system.

To mark its release, serving Victims’ Commissioner, Claire Waxman, has written to the Deputy Prime Minister calling for urgent action to implement outstanding reforms and to ensure victims consistently receive the rights and support they are entitled to.

While in office, Baroness Newlove published her landmark 2019 report Living a Nightmare in which she exposed the traumatic and devastating toll of anti-social behaviour (ASB) on victims. She revisited the report in 2024, and drew on 500 first-hand accounts, reporting that many victims had continued to face years of persistent ASB, often with no resolution.

While nationally victims of ASB have felt let down and unsupported, County Durham and Darlington PCC Joy Allen has worked tirelessly since first being elected in 2021 to increase support for victims, placing them at the centre of local improvements.

Her commitment – and unquestioned success – prompted the Baroness to invite the PCC to join her national advisory panel.  The Baroness was also a key speaker at the PCC’s Victims’ Conference in 2025.

Her first Police and Crime Plan addressed and delivered all the original recommendations made in Baroness Newlove’s ‘Living A Nightmare’ report and set out even higher expectations for the future response to ASB locally.

Highlights include:

• Becoming the first and only PCC in the country to create and recruit the role of an ASB champion to give local victims of ASB a bigger voice in the criminal justice system and to ensure their lived experiences shape future action and trauma-informed support.
• Becoming the first PCC nationally to offer victims of ASB the opportunity to attend the Case Review hearing (formally Community Trigger) and provide statements of the harm they have endured
• Appointing Independent Chairs of ASB Case Reviews – as recommended by the Baroness.
• Launching a unique Case Review model that allows vulnerable victims to be risk-assessed for a Case Review - even if they do not meet the agreed threshold of three reported cases in a six-month period.
• Rigorous promotion of the Case Review Scheme through an interactive ASB Signposting tool directing people to dedicated resources where they can access support and report ASB to the relevant agency quickly alongside high-profile marketing campaigns and dedicated information pages on the PCC’s website.
• Appointing a dedicated ASB Victim Care Officer to provide specialist care.

The PCC’s new Police, Crime and Justice Plan goes even further, pledging to ensure all police and commissioned services adhere to the Victims’ Code, ensure relevant agencies have suitable training to meet their code obligations and to implement a robust monitoring mechanism to improve the delivery of the Victims’ Code rights.

Recent milestones include:

• All newly recruited police officers being trained in understanding the Victims’ Code of Practice.
• Funding secured by the PCC worth £8k from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to establish a Victim Expert by Experience Panel to ensure lived experience continues to shape her future work.
• Launch of a new recording tool for ASB incidents within the force, ensuring the system can effectively identify cases that should be referred for support, as well as those that meet the local ASB Case Review criteria.
• Funding the recruitment of a dedicated Review Coordinator from the PCC budget to provide victims with a single point of contact throughout their case and the appointment of two volunteers as independent ASB case review chairs.
• Implementing a dedicated case management system to enable staff to track progress more efficiently.

Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen said: “Baroness Newlove didn’t just campaign for victims, she fought relentlessly to force the system to change. Her work helped drag victims’ rights out of the shadows and push them towards the protection of law. This report stands as a powerful reminder of her legacy and the standard we must live up to.

“Since my election, I have been determined to turn her vision into reality. That’s why we haven’t waited to be told what to do, we’ve led from the front, going further than our legal duties to reshape support for victims and set a new benchmark for care.

“But the truth is this: progress has stalled nationally. As Victims’ Commissioner Claire Waxman has made clear, too many of Baroness Newlove’s hard-won reforms are sitting idle, promises made, but not delivered.

“At a time when one in three people feel unsafe because of anti-social behaviour, that failure matters. It undermines trust. It silences victims. And it risks leaving too many people to suffer alone.

“These reforms cannot sit on a shelf any longer. They must be implemented in full - and with urgency - so victims are empowered to come forward, confident they will be heard, protected and supported.”

The Victim Commissioner’s Annual Report is available here: https://bit.ly/VictimsCommissionerAR2526.

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