How Vico Homes Streamlined Universal Credit Verification with Automation

 £300K+  

 Operational savings

 51,160+  

 UC claims verified

  7,308  

Hours saved

Vico Homes partnered with Enterprise RPA (now part of Voicescape), to transform its Universal Credit verification (UCV) process through automation. By replacing a highly manual process with a scalable solution, Vico Homes improved operational efficiency, protected income, strengthened compliance and enabled teams to focus more on supporting residents.

The Challenge

UC verification became a significant operational challenge for Vico Homes following regulatory changes in 2022, which required social landlords to process all UC verification changes. At the time, Vico Homes housed 12,000 UC residents, a figure that has since grown to over 20,000, significantly increasing the volume of claims to be processed.

Managing these claims manually placed considerable strain on the organisation. During peak periods, more than 20 staff had to be pulled from across different teams to process claims, often working evenings and weekends to keep up with demand. This created major disruption not only within the income team but across the wider organisation.

As staff were diverted away from their core responsibilities, they had less time to support residents, manage arrears, and maintain day-to-day service levels, directly impacting income collection. Delays in processing claims also created further demand, with residents contacting the DWP when updates were not completed quickly enough. As claim volumes continued to rise, the manual process became increasingly unsustainable, placing staff under greater strain, affecting resident experience and increasing compliance risk.

It became clear that continuing with a manual process was no longer sustainable. Vico Homes needed a scalable solution that could manage growing demand while protecting service quality, compliance, and income collection.

The Solution

To address this challenge, Vico Homes partnered with ERPA to implement UCV Automation. The solution was presented to the DWP for approval which was granted in early 2024.

The automation securely retrieves claim verification requests from the DWP portal, validates resident data against Vico Homes’ internal systems, flags exceptions for review, submits verified claims and records a full audit trail for compliance and visibility.

This transformed how claims were managed. Rather than manually processing every claim, teams work on an exception-only basis. This gives staff more capacity to supporting residents, manage arrears and resolve priority issues.

Implementation was underpinned by strong post-launch support. ERPA provided guidance throughout the transition and, as claim volumes increased and operational needs evolved, continued to deliver responsive support and enhancements to ensure the solution remained scalable, reliable and effective.

The Results

Since implementing UCV Automation in 2024, Vico Homes has achieved significant operational, financial and service benefits.

Key outcomes include:

• • 51,160+ Universal Credit claims verified
  • 7,308 manual operating hours saved
  • Reduction from 20+ staff supporting UCV claims during peak periods to one person providing oversight
  • £5M protected income through APA-related cash collection
  • 20% Increase in customer contact activity, with staff having more capacity to support residents during peak periods

Beyond the measurable savings, automation has improved service delivery, reduced pressure on staff and strengthened compliance by creating a more consistent, visible, and accurate process.

“As the number of claims has increased to over 20,000, the bot has helped us support the growth of the business by ensuring claims are processed quickly. It also means our team can remain available for our customers” –  Income advisor, Vico Homes  

 Expanding the Automation Journey

Following the success of UCV Automation, Vico Homes has continued to leverage its automation platform to support additional business processes, maximising the value of its existing investment. The success of UCV automation has also driven a positive cultural shift across the organisation, with automation increasingly seen as a tool for empowering staff and improving efficiency.

Building on this momentum, the organisation has expanded automation into additional processes such as Direct Debit Uplift, delivering further operational efficiencies and contributing to over £300K in operational savings.

Looking ahead, Vico Homes continues to explore further automation opportunities, including email rerouting, as part of its wider digital transformation journey.

Industry Recognition

Vico Homes’ approach to automation was shortlisted for the Housing Digital Innovation Awards 2026 in the Best Use of AI or Automation category, recognising the impact of its partnership with Enterprise RPA and its role as an example of practical, scalable automation in the housing sector.

Karen Storey, Head of Income Management, was selected for the Inside Housing Management 30 for her outstanding leadership and her pivotal role in rolling out robotic process automation to transform the way Vico Homes work which delivers meaningful outcomes and support for  those who need it most.