Wrexham County Borough Council have reduced arrears despite the pandemic by implementing a range of interventions, including RentSense, sustainability and financial inclusion officers.
Wrexham Council were experiencing rising arrears, an increase in Universal Credit claims whilst also having to adopt a new way of working due to the pandemic. The council was keen to combat these factors by changing their approach to rent collection.
“The council was in a position where our arrears were spiralling and tenants getting into financial difficulties. We restructured the income team introducing sustainability and financial inclusion officers enabling us to offer more of the support that tenants needed. We also invested in RentSense, which helps you manage your resources much more effectively.” Explains Julie Francis, Housing Service Manager, Wrexham County Borough Council.
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The accuracy of RentSense enables officers to intervene at the earliest stages of debt, but it has also reduced their workload, as Julie explains:
Officers can now complete their caseload, and we have visibility of workload and progress throughout each week. Now we are identifying cases that need action and as a result we are improving our performance and helping our tenants.\”
Julie Francis, Wrexham County Borough Council
Despite the challenging environment the council has focused on supporting and sustaining tenancies and this has proved incredibly effective, as Julie comments:
“The staff have done a remarkable job over the last year or so, despite the pandemic, and at the end of March arrears were much better than anticipated and that rightly made the staff very proud. With RentSense it has freed up their time, so they are not fire-fighting but focusing their time and it is getting results as arrears have fallen by about £200,000.”
“The management and team at Wrexham Council have done an amazing job, responding to the pandemic and legislation from the Senedd, and by working with and supporting tenants they have improved performance.” Commented Paul Evans, Director at Mobysoft.
