The organisation:
Our client is one of the largest housing associations in the northeast of England, providing low-cost homes for more than 18,000 families.
The challenge:
In addition to the recovery of former tenant arrears and sundry debts (repairs, housing benefit overpayments and court costs), this housing association was also looking to reduce the pressure on internal administration departments. As the debt profile included some aged debt, connection had been lost with previous tenants and this had previously prevented successful collection of accounts.
The difference made:
Following a thorough tender process, Controlaccount was awarded the contract in November 2017 to provide standard debt recovery and standalone trace services. The Association is committed to avoiding any eviction and looked to Controlaccount to offer arrangements to support tenants, alongside successful recoveries. Although the client had initially requested a field service as part of recovery, we illustrated - through a pilot scheme - that litigation provided a greater level of successful outcome than doorstep recoveries. Our legal offering was then built into our client workflow if a propensity to pay had been established through our own Debt Assessment Processes (DAP). In addition to improving recoveries, we have successfully streamlined the client’s collection process, with a significant number of individuals who are financially vulnerable being supported via payment plans.
Controlaccount also provided:
- A soft lettering approach and SMS messaging
- Data cleansing and trace services
- Monthly and weekly reporting and analysis across individual accounts, debt type and overall performance
- A technology driven service for all parties including online payment and query channels for subjects through ControlMyAccount and client management and reporting through our ClientWeb portal
What they said:
We see any eviction as a failure so we were keen that our debt recovery partner could strike a balance between meeting our commercial goals in parallel with delivering an ethical and fair debt recovery service which would support our tenants. We have been extremely satisfied with the collection, trace and client services performance, particularly the DAP services which allows us to avoid costly legal proceedings when our tenant is unlikely to settle. - Income Recovery Manager
FAQ - Pay a Debt
