Govanhill Housing Association Outperforms Scottish Arrears Benchmarks Across Every Measure with RentSense®

Govanhill Housing Association has reduced total arrears by £263,478 and supported 331 households out of arrears after embedding RentSense® into its income collection approach, significantly outperforming the Scottish sector benchmark across every key metric.

Working with Mobysoft’s predictive analytics platform, the Glasgow-based housing association now reports total arrears of 3.11% in the period encompassing April 2025 – January 2025, compared with the Scottish benchmark of 6.54 %. Universal Credit arrears stand at 4.24% versus a benchmark of 10.09% over the same period, while non-Universal Credit arrears are 1.93% compared with 4.75% nationally.

The results have been achieved despite a reduction in staffing within the rent team from 4.5 to 3.5 officers in 2024, with Govanhill focusing on smarter prioritisation, earlier intervention and structured weekly case management.

Judith Christie, Senior Housing Officer at Govanhill Housing Association, said the transformation began with visibility. “The biggest challenge was we didn’t have a proper reporting tool, so it was resource intensive trying to find the cases that needed our attention. We were having to go through everyone that was in arrears to find the ones that needed our urgent attention. RentSense has eased the operational strain the team faced.”

Before implementing RentSense, officers were manually reviewing arrears accounts within their housing management system, without confidence they were prioritising the right tenants at the right time. Increasing Universal Credit complexity and limited real-time insight made consistent early intervention difficult.

By introducing structured weekly prioritisation using RentSense Priority 1–3 case lists, Govanhill shifted to a clearer, priority-led model. Officers now focus first on cases where expected payments, including Universal Credit, have not been received. Workflows are generated automatically within the system, removing the need for manual allocation and reducing managerial bottlenecks.

“Officers have now got the confidence and the trust in the data that they’re using. They know that if they’re telling a tenant something, it’s correct. That’s probably been the biggest change of all. “It doesn’t take me to come along and give officers work. The work is generated.”

Judith Christie, Senior Housing Officer, Govanhill Housing Association

The association has also embedded Mobysoft Assisted Automation functionality to increase tenant engagement through targeted SMS messaging. Over the past year, 3,806 messages were attempted, 2,926 were successfully delivered, generating £41,845 in additional arrears collected and an average balance reduction of £14.30 per case.

“Tenants use their phone. They’re not on laptops, but they’re on their mobile,” Judith Christie said. “Using the Assisted Automation function to deliver targeted SMS messaging is a much more immediate contact. The response rate is much, much higher.”

Operational performance has strengthened alongside arrears reduction. Govanhill now averages 332 cases completed per week, with an 89% case completion rate and an 89% 12-week completion rate. Over a 12-month cohort period, 70% of targeted cases either cleared or improved arrears, with 82% reducing arrears overall and an average reduction of £553 per household.

Chris Magennis, Regional Director (Scotland) at Mobysoft, said Govanhill’s results demonstrate what can be achieved when data, process and partnership align.

“Govanhill’s performance shows the impact of intelligent prioritisation in a challenging operating environment. By embedding RentSense into weekly workflows, the team has reduced arrears, improved Universal Credit performance and supported hundreds of households to stabilise their tenancies, all while operating with fewer staff.

“These outcomes are not about working harder. They’re about focusing on the right tenants at the right time, with confidence in the data. Govanhill has fully embraced that approach, and the results speak for themselves.”

To discover more about Govanhill Housing Association’s results with RentSense®, read the full case study.