Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council has implemented Mobysoft’s RentSense software to help support its tenants’ transition to universal credit and mitigate growing arrears.
Manjit Rai, business manager of income and money advice services, Sandwell Council, said, “We decided to implement RentSense because we’re seeing an increase in rent arrears due to the impact of welfare reform, with more and more tenants moving to universal credit and falling into arrears as a result.
“Furthermore, RentSense will be crucial in identifying our most vulnerable tenants who are adversely impacted by the current situation brought on by Covid-19. This will enable our income and housing officers to provide the correct levels of support and help without delay.”
The RentSense software will provide the council’s housing officers with more accurate arrears’ caseloads. It will also help to identify tenants at the earliest stages of debt so that the council can take a supportive approach and minimise the deleterious effects of long-term debt at the same time as protecting the council’s housing revenues.
Rai said, “As a result of welfare reform, our officers are experiencing increases in their workloads so it’s becoming more of a challenge to provide preventative support to those tenants who need it. The system provides accurate and prioritised caseloads so we can identify tenants who are vulnerable or struggling financially earlier on, reducing the impact debt has on tenants’ health and wellbeing.”
