Plan to curb anti-social conduct

30 January 2012 Last updated at 03:43 GMT Theresa May will speak of how victims of anti-social behaviour can often feel helpless Home Secretary Theresa May is due to outline plans to give communities tougher protection from anti-social behaviour in England and Wales.

She will say she still hears "horror stories of victims reporting the same problem over and over again".

Pilot schemes this summer will force the authorities to act if five households in a neighbourhood complain.

Mrs May will also announce what changes she intends to make to the pay of police officers in England and Wales.

Labour said the plans to combat anti-social behaviour were "belated and weak" and showed that the home secretary was "out of touch".

Details of the proposals will be outlined in a speech by Mrs May on police reform in London on Monday.

It is too easy to overlook the harm that persistent anti-social behaviour causes, she will say.

"Many police forces, councils and housing providers are working hard, but I still hear horror stories of victims reporting the same problem over and over again, and getting no response," she will add.

"These long-running problems - and the sense of helplessness that goes with them - can destroy a victim's quality of life and shatter a community's trust in the police.

Working with councils

"That's why we proposed a 'community trigger' as part of our reforms to anti-social behaviour laws".

Mrs May will point out that the government is already working with a number of local authorities to test the "community trigger" in practice, ahead of the launch of the summer pilot schemes.

Shadow Home Office minister Gloria DePiero criticised the plans.

"This is a belated and weak announcement from the Home Secretary which shows how out of touch she is with the anti-social behaviour problems many communities face," she said.

"After two years of doing nothing to tackle anti-social behaviour, the home secretary has to do better than a few pilots that won't start until the summer, and which seem to suggest that anti-social behaviour should not be taken seriously if only two or three people complain."

Mrs May will also announce long-awaited reforms to the pay and allowances of 130,000 police officers.

BBC home editor Mark Easton says she is likely to accept a compromise deal broadly agreed between police and the independent Police Arbitration Tribunal.

But he says it comes with an additional cost of more than £13m a year, and with the service already facing 20% cuts, the question is how the missing millions will be found.

A review of police conditions of service by lawyer Tom Winsor was expected to have been implemented last October, but negotiations stalled.

These reforms would have saved an estimated £70m by now.