Income teams are under increasing pressure. They need to protect vital rental income while responding appropriately to residents whose financial circumstances are becoming more challenging. That tension is reshaping how social housing providers approach income collection. It is no longer just about recovering arrears quickly, but about using data, digital tools and proactive engagement to understand residents’ circumstances earlier and support more sustainable outcomes.
At Housing 2026, Chris Wales, Income Lead at Thirteen Group, spoke to Paul Agnew, RPA Lead at Voicescape, about how digital solutions are transforming income operations and helping providers respond to a changing social housing landscape.
The conversation looked at how income teams can respond to rising pressure without losing sight of the residents behind the arrears. Chris Wales reflects on the need for more consistent processes, better use of automation and earlier intervention, while showing how digital tools can free officers to focus on the conversations, judgement and support that make the biggest difference.
“I think there’s a lot of pressure on teams now, whether you’re a specialist in income or another housing role. Customer circumstances are more complex, and we’re getting better at identifying where residents may be experiencing vulnerability or financial pressure. I think we are turning our approach more towards supporting customers through those circumstances, but that then creates pressure. The cost-of-living crisis is putting pressure on all families to manage their money, learning as they are going along, and it’s a challenging time. We need to be looking at things more holistically. The challenge isn’t simply collecting payment or creating quick transactions; it’s understanding why an account has fallen behind and having the resource to use officer time appropriately.
Automating parts of the process through digital agents helps teams maintain service levels by reducing routine claim calls and improving first-contact resolution. By creating a more consistent structure for these interactions, officers have more time to understand individual customer circumstances and provide meaningful conversations and engagement back.” – Chris Wales, Income Lead at Thirteen Group.
“With income, those can be difficult types of conversations, and you want to ask an open question and take a polite position that acknowledges the customer is in a position of debt, with an opportunity to clear any outstanding debt. You can deliver that consistent first message with automation, which then supports officers to focus on the cases that need judgement, empathy, negotiation and more tailored engagement.” – Chris Wales, Income Lead at Thirteen Group.
As Paul Agnew later explains, variation in process can sometimes create operational risk. When teams handle the same task in different ways, information can be recorded differently, important steps may be missed, and outcomes can become too dependent on individual experience rather than a clear, consistent approach.
“From my experience, it’s that consistency of process within an organisation, such as with universal credit verification, every team handles it slightly differently than others. For some they do it all the time, others not so much. That can mean certain steps are handled differently, whereas with automation you are doing the same thing consistently when putting information on records, so it’s a very clear process that follows patterns.” – Paul Agnew, RPA Lead at Voicescape.
“I’ll use an example of Direct Debit customers. When a Direct Debit fails, it is not always necessarily because someone is in financial hardship; they may have moved money between accounts or forgotten to move money in. If we send a text message with a link saying ‘Direct Debit payment’, technology is saving the time that would have been lost to that conversation. Straightforward cases can be resolved quickly because customers can click on a link and do it themselves with Voicescape, instead of waiting on the phone with a housing association. That means officers can focus on the residents who genuinely need support.
That same principle applies when we look at agreements. I’m a huge advocate for evidence-based agreements. I think we as a sector are experiencing something quite unique, where we can sometimes round things up to pay off outstanding debt. It feels like a missed opportunity if we are not doing spending plans or affordability assessments on a regular basis, because agreements should be based on someone’s genuine financial circumstances. Automation frees up our housing services department by reducing the admin around straightforward cases, so officers have more time to make agreements that are fit-for-purpose, based on clearer financial visibility and accounting for everything. Those agreements should be more sustainable because they are evidence-based and reflect what the customer can realistically afford.” – Chris Wales, Income Lead at Thirteen Group.
“It’s about maintaining performance in a way that supports the organisation and residents. At Thirteen, we need to make sure income is collected effectively so we can continue to invest in the services tenants rely on. When income management works well, it helps protect organisational resilience and service quality at the same time. It gives teams the right foundations to succeed, and it has a knock-on effect on what the organisation can do for tenants.” – Chris Wales, Income Lead at Thirteen Group.
“Officer morale is impacted. The generic model is really important to colleagues in helping them know what they are doing in each area of the business. Some tasks can be freed up through the use of AI and automation, but it is not just about saving time or increasing productivity. It gives officers back the space to upskill themselves, build confidence in the role and focus on the parts of the work where their knowledge and judgement add the most value.” – Chris Wales, Income Lead at Thirteen Group.
“Doing universal credits manually is an arduous task. Whereas if you can automate it, you are freeing up officers and specialists’ time to do their job, spot issues earlier, understand what support is needed and be proactive rather than reactive.” – Chris Wales, Income Lead at Thirteen Group.
“The automation we have with Voicescape Agreements Manager is tangible, and we are encouraging our team to learn and trust the technology because they can see the results. It has had a really positive impact on performance at Thirteen.
The operational challenge is that debt is dynamic, so we need evidence that is more current than static spreadsheets and balance reports. Automation helps with that, but it still needs oversight from skilled colleagues who understand the customer and the context. My advice would be to test what technology can do, step out of your comfort zone and look at where automation could support your team, rather than staying dependent on manual processes.” – Chris Wales, Income Lead at Thirteen Group.
If you’re exploring how technology can similarly strengthen your income collection strategy and where routine work may be limiting their team’s capacity, our team would be happy to discuss your goals and demonstrate how our technology can support your organisation.