Transforming believe housing's Tenant Arrears Management Process 

believe housing is a not-for-profit housing association with more than 18,000 homes across County Durham and beyond. It aims to deliver life without barriers through innovative support for customers new and old, extensive community funding programmes, plus huge investment in building new homes and upgrading existing ones. 

In the face of a major income team restructure, and the challenges posted by the cost-of-living crisis, believe housing wanted to enhance their income management strategies while maintaining high levels of tenant satisfaction …

The challenge 

As the income team underwent a significant restructure, they realised the need for a transformation in their income management processes. The team was being divided into two specialist teams dealing with current tenant arrears (CTA) and former tenant arrears (FTA). It was therefore necessary to help manage this restructure effectively, especially as they expected an increase in tenant arrears due to the cost-of-living crisis and wanted to reallocate their people resources to focus on more complex cases.  

The organisation had to balance the need to improve efficiency and financial sustainability, while at the same time making their work more tenant-centric. They sought not only to maintain but, if possible, reduce their rent arrears too. Through thorough research and seeking references from other neighbouring housing associations, the team at believe housing concluded that Voicescape Collections was the right solution to help achieve their goals. 

The solution 

believe housing’s partnership with Voicescape began in December 2021 with the system being switched on the following April. Voicescape’s Customer Success Management team worked with the client to ensure the implementation was a smooth process with regular ongoing project meetings continuing to address any issues that arose during the implementation and onboarding phases. Throughout the project, believe housing were focused on the importance of maintaining a consistent voice in all their interactions with tenants, part of which involved working with Voicescape to pre-record voice messages that ensured that consistency. 

 “Onboarding was absolutely great. We were constantly in contact and we worked well together. If there were any issues, we’d collaborate well to sort it out. I’ve been involved in many implementations and very often get pushed back, but it was excellent with Voicescape”

Wendy Swales, Income Manager 

The results 

After 12 months of using Voicescape Collections, believe housing identified several notable results. They wanted their CTA arrears to remain steady or decrease, and Voicescape Collections helped them achieve this goal. They managed over 8,700 telephone calls and connected with tenants at an impressive rate of 73%, which allowed them to have more meaningful and outcome-focused conversations. The system’s speed and flexibility allowed them to target specific individuals at optimal times, enhancing efficiency. One critical performance metric for believe housing was the number of payments as a direct result of Voicescape calls. Through the new system, they were able to collect £220,000 in payments, which was a significant increase in previous recovery levels and was testament to the solution’s impact on their financial stability.  

“The whole team are completely on board and really see the benefit of Voicescape Collections. Members of the team have told me they love Voicescape even though they were initially sceptical as it was a system they hadn’t used. Ultimately, they wanted to have more conversations with tenants and now they are.”

Wendy Swales, Income Manager

As a result of the excellent results, believe housing are now eager to expand the current use of Voicescape Collections into tackling their Former Tenant Arrears. They are convinced that the system has potential for even further development and continue to tailor it to their evolving needs. 

believe housing’s journey with Voicescape demonstrates the positive impact of digital technology in transforming tenant arrears management, achieving high levels of efficiency and maintaining high levels of tenant satisfaction during a challenging restructure. We are delighted that our collaboration with believe housing has paved the way for future expansion and further innovation in their approach to arrears management.

If you would like to learn more about how you can maximise customer engagement and release your income team’s capacity to focus on the cases that need most attention, then get in touch with us today!