Louise Casey, Baroness Casey of Blackstock, (born 29 March 1965), is a crossbench peer and current British government official, where she serves as lead non-executive director. She was the deputy director of Shelter in 1992, the head of the Rough Sleepers' Unit (RSU) in 1999, a director of the national Anti-Social Behaviour Unit (ASBU) in 2003, head of the Respect Task Force in 2005 and the UK's first Victims' Commissioner in March 2010. She became director general of Troubled Families on 1 November 2011.
In February 2020, Boris Johnson appointed her as an adviser to help tackle homelessness, and she was later appointed as chair of the Rough Sleeping Taskforce, which was set up to curb rough sleeping during the COVID-19 pandemic. In July 2020 she was nominated for a crossbench peerage.
In August 2021, Casey was appointed to review the circumstances and prepare a report on the spectator invasion of Wembley Stadium, London, in July 2021 when thousands of ticket-less spectators broke through security arrangements for the final of the UEFA Euro 2020 football tournament.Terms of reference for independent review into the EURO 2020 final The Football Association (thefa.com), 6 August 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021Euro 2020 final disorder: Ticketless thugs 'could have caused death' at England v Italy game BBC Sport, 3 December 2021. Retrieved 4 December 2021 Later in 2021, Casey was appointed to lead an independent review of culture and standards into the Metropolitan Police in London following the murder of Sarah Everard. Her report, published in March 2023, concluded that the Metropolitan Police was "institutionally racist, sexist and broken".
In 2024, Casey was reportedly touted by Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer for a ministerial role in a future government, should he win the general election. In January 2025, she was appointed as the government's lead non-executive director.
In January 2025, in response to growing public pressure for a national inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal, Casey was commissioned to produce a national audit on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse, which was published in June 2025. The audit found widespread data failures obscuring the scale of grooming-gang abuse, though evidence shows disproportionate numbers of offenders of Asian, especially Pakistani background , in certain geographical areas. It calls for a national inquiry, mandatory ethnicity and nationality recording, tougher child-protection laws, and tighter taxi-licensing rules. On 22 October 2025, Sir Keir Starmer appointed Casey to help carry out the national inquiry.
Early life Louise Casey was born on 29 March 1965 in Redruth, Cornwall, to Peggy and Martin Casey, a union representative at Plessey. She was educated at Oaklands Catholic School, near Portsmouth, and graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London, with a degree in history.
Career Casey began her career with the Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS), administering benefit payments for homeless people. She then worked for the St Mungo Association, a charity that helps homeless people. She became director of the Homeless Network in London, before becoming deputy director of Shelter in 1992. At Shelter she gained a reputation as an "ambitious, pragmatic worker who got results" and was largely responsible for the creation in 1998 of Shelterline, the country's first 24-hour telephone helpline for homeless people.
Rough Sleepers Unit Following the 1997 general election, the Labour government in December that year created the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU), which had the Rough Sleepers Initiative as one of its priorities.Fairclough, Norman (2000). New Labour, New Language?, Routledge, p. 51. In April 1999 the Rough Sleepers Unit (RSU) was created and Casey appointed by Prime Minister Tony Blair as its head, referred to in the media as the "homelessness czar". With an eventual budget of £200 million, the RSU's aim was to reduce the number of rough sleepers in England by two-thirds by April 2002.Noaks, Lesley; Wincup, Emma. (2004). Criminological Research: Understanding Qualitative Methods, SAGE Publications, p. 147. For Blair and staff, see: Chrystal, Robin. "Homelessness czar gets to work" , BBC News, 15 December 1999; accessed 30 August 2011. For budget, see: "Sleeping rough – The Homelessness Tsar answers your questions" , BBC News, 22 August 2010; accessed 30 August 2011. The RSU was originally created to deal with homelessness in London, and in September 1999 extended its activities to the rest of England. See: Cloke, Paul J; Milbourne, Paul; Widdowfield, Rebekah. (2002). Rural Homelessness: Issues, Experiences and Policy Responses. The Policy Press, p. 110. The RSU published its strategy in December 1999. . communities.gov.uk, 16 December 1999; accessed 8 September 2011webpage , communities.gov.uk; accessed 31 December 2016.
In November 1999 Casey said that the activities of some charities had the effect of keeping homeless people on the streets: "With soup runs and other kinds of charity help, well-meaning people are spending money servicing the problem on the streets and keeping it there. Even The Big Issue is perpetuating the problem." The editor of The Big Issue disagreed with her comments."Charities 'promote homelessness'" , BBC News. 14 November 1999; accessed 30 August 2011. See also: Liddiard, Mark. "Homelessness". p. 126. In: May, Margaret; Page, Robert M; Brunsdon, Edward. (eds) (2001). Understanding Social Problems: Issues in Social Policy. Blackwell Publishers.
In November 2000, the government launched the RSU-led "Change a Life" campaign, which encouraged people to give money to homelessness charities instead of to beggars, following research suggesting that 86 per cent of beggars used drugs. Casey said giving money to beggars was "misplaced goodwill".Noaks, Lesley; Wincup, Emma. (2004). Criminological Research: Understanding Qualitative Methods, SAGE Publications, pp. 147–48. For the research, see: "Government defends anti-begging campaign" . BBC News. 6 November 2000. Accessed 30 August 2011. The donations hotline set up as part of the campaign was closed in March 2002, having collected £10,000, with advertising spending of £240,000.Summerskill, Ben; Newey, Guy. "Beggars hotline ditched as flop" . The Guardian, 3 March 2002; accessed 7 September 2011. The RSU achieved its target in November 2001, several months before the deadline, but allegations were made that they had used underhand tactics; Casey responded that they were false.Morrison, James; Seymenliyska, Elena. "Rough sleepers unit 'fiddled the figures'" , The Independent, 23 December 2001; accessed 30 August 2011. "Sharp fall in rough sleeper numbers" . BBC News, 3 December 2001; accessed 30 August 2011. With her work at the RSU finished, she became director of the newly created Homelessness Directorate."Homelessness tsar" , The Guardian, 20 December 2002; accessed 6 September 2011.
Anti-Social Behaviour Unit In January 2003, Casey became head of the Anti-Social Behaviour Unit (ASBU) at the Home Office. Introduced in 1998, an Anti-Social Behaviour Order is a civil order made against a person who has been shown, on the balance of evidence, to have engaged in anti-social behaviour.Walker, David. "Civil servant squares up to anti-social behaviour" . The Guardian. 2 January 2003. Accessed 6 September 2011.
Respect Task Force; crime adviser In September 2005, Casey was appointed head of the Respect Task Force as part of Blair's "respect agenda", becoming known as the "respect czar"."Ins and outs" . The Guardian. 7 September 2005. Accessed 6 September 2011. See also: Branigan, Tania. "'Deck 'em' adviser made head of respect drive by Blair and Clarke" . The Guardian. 3 September 2005; accessed 6 September 2011.
The Respect Action Plan, launched in January 2006, was designed to deal with anti-social behaviour and problematic young people and families."Respect action plan: At-a-glance" . BBC News. Accessed 8 September 2011. Tempest, Richard. "Blair launches 'respect' action plan" . The Guardian. 10 January 2006; accessed 8 September 2011.
In December 2007, the task force was closed down, and Casey moved to another job concerned with community policing.Wintour, Patrick. "Blair's Respect agenda ditched, claim Tories" , The Guardian, 24 December 2007; accessed 6 September 2011. Her review of "Engaging Communities in Fighting Crime" was published in 2008, being based largely on her contact with the public.Pratt, John. "Penal excess and penal exceptionalism: welfare and imprisonment in Anglophone and Scandinavian societies". p. 264. In: Crawford, Adam (ed) (2011). International and Comparative Criminal Justice and Urban Governance: Convergence and Divergence in Global, National and Local Settings, Cambridge University Press; accessed 22 January 2018.
She recommended the requirement, introduced in December 2008, that offenders doing community work should wear fluorescent orange jackets with the words "community payback" printed on the backs.Ford, Richard. "Offenders on community work projects will have to wear orange bibs", The Times, 27 November 2008; accessed 8 September 2011.
In October 2009, while working as the government's neighbourhood crime adviser, Casey said that the justice system favoured criminals, and the public wanted a justice system that was not a "criminal's justice system".Ford, Richard. "Crime adviser says justice system is seen as ‘too sympathetic’ to criminals" , The Times, 19 October 2009; accessed 8 September 2011.
Victims' Commissioner On 30 March 2010, Casey was appointed the inaugural commissioner for victims and witnesses,Wintour, Patrick. "Louise Casey promoted to role of victims' commissioner" . The Guardian. 30 March 2010. Accessed 8 September 2011. created under the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004, whose objective is to "promote the interests of victims and witnesses, encourage good practice in their treatment, and regularly review the Code of Practice for Victims which sets out the services victims can expect to receive"."Victims' Commissioner" . justice.gov.uk Accessed 6 September 2011. See also: Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 – Commissioner for Victims and Witnesses . legislation.gov.uk. Accessed 6 September 2011. As Victims' Commissioner, Casey said crime victims were treated poorly by the system,Casciani, Dominic. "Crime victims treated like the 'poor relation'" . BBC News. 20 July 2010. Accessed 8 September 2011. and suggested jury trials were unnecessary for many lesser offences."Cut jury trials, says victims' champion Louise Casey" . BBC News. 3 November 2010; accessed 8 September 2011. She held the post from May 2010 to October 2011 and was succeeded by Baroness Newlove in March 2013.
Troubled Families programme It was reported in September 2011 that Casey would work with Prime Minister David Cameron in dealing with the consequences of widespread rioting a month earlier,"Riots: Louise Casey – Blair's respect tsar – to aid PM" , BBC News. 7 September 2011; accessed 8 September 2011. and she resigned from the position of Victims' Commissioner on 12 October 2011."Louise Casey quits as Victims Commissioner" , 12 October 2011; accessed 12 October 2011.
She became director general of the Troubled Families Unit on 1 November 2011. The programme intended to focus interventions on the 120,000 most dysfunctional families to break the cycle of abuse. In July 2012 Casey published the Listening to Troubled Families report which featured 16 case studies following interviews with families about their situations. In a half-way report released in November 2013, the government stated that 22,000 families had been "turned around".