WELCOME How to mitigate the impact of Universal Credit on rent collection The webinar will begin at 10am Organised by: Sponsored by:

Opening remarks from the Chair Emma Maier, Editor, Inside Housing Organised by: Sponsored by:

Organised by: Sponsored by: Sue Ramsden, Policy Leader (Welfare Reform), National Housing Federation

Universal Credit Sue Ramsden Policy Leader March 2015

Federation’s work

Timetable Nov 2014 UC extends to families in Warrington and Wirral (new claims). End of 2014 UC live in all JCPs in NW and Hammersmith, Bath, Rugby, Harrogate, Inverness and Shotton. Jan 2015 UC extends to families in all existing live sites. Tranche 1 – 26th Jan – Some areas in NW and Hammersmith, Bath, Rugby, Harrogate, Inverness and Shotton. Tranche 2 – 2nd March – remaining areas in NW. Feb 2015 – March 2016 National roll out to all JCPs – new claims from single people without children. Tranche 1 (Feb – Apr 2015) 150 JCPs Tranche 2 (May – Jul 2015) 160 JCPs Tranche 3 (Sept – Nov 2015) 180 JCPs Tranche 4 (Dec 2015 – Mar 2016) 110 JCPs May 2016 – Dec 2017 National roll out to all new claims and claimants with change of circumstances Jan 2018 – Dec 2019 Managed transfer of legacy benefit claims including housing benefit, JSA and IS

Conditions and sanctions Universal Credit Culture change Single payment Monthly payment Direct to tenant Online Supporting work Conditions and sanctions

Assessment period Problem of gap between claim and first payment – UC advance Have to be entitled for whole assessment period to receive next payment Example 1: Claimant has a child one day before the end of her assessment period. The child al-lowance will be included in her UC award for the whole month. Example 2: A young person leaves the claimant’s household one day before the end of her assessment period. She will lose the child allowance for the whole month. If the young person had departed one day later, the claimant would have retained the full monthly allowance for her/him. Example 3: A claimant moves into cheaper accommo-dation four weeks into his assessment period. He will receive reduced housing costs for the whole month. If he had moved a few days later, he would have received his pre-vious entitlement to housing costs for the whole month. Example 4: Claimant’s entitlement to UC ends four weeks into his assessment period – eg, because he moves abroad, or receives income or capital. He will receive no UC for the whole month.

Housing element For social sector tenants the housing element will be: Liable rent and eligible service charges Minus Any under-occupation deduction any Housing Cost Contribution (HCC) from non-dependants HCC – flat rate - £68 per month Rent free weeks

Alternative payment arrangements: process Use escalation process where needed Understand role of service centre and JCP work coaches Use information from data sharing What support is available locally? What information does tenant have to verify claim? Need for APA/ budgeting support identified in the Job Centre And/or landlord fills out APA form and send to: Freepost Plus RTEU-LESU-EXTJ Universal Credit Post Handling Site B Wolverhampton WV99 1AJ Same form can be used to apply for third party deductions.

Third party deductions Priority list Applied for on APA form Rent arrears 10-20% of standard allowance No more than 3 deductions in total No more than 40% deducted in total Rent arrears 10% Rent arrears 10%

Data sharing – name, address and date of claim from 16th Feb

Preparing for UC What do you need to know? Now and at different stages of roll out? Can you record/retrieve information needed from your management system? Sharing data – how, when and with whom? Knowing your tenants Who needs training and in what? Does your organisation have the right skills (digital inclusion, financial inclusion, debt management)? How do you make better use of staff resources? Do you need to review staff structures? Do teams work together? Can people access the right information and share information? Working with Staff

Preparing for UC (2) What is your message? Are your communications consistent internally and with JCP, LA etc? General v targeted messaging? Automated v driven by staff? Communications How can you make sure that UC claim covers correct amount of rent/eligible service charge? How easy is it for tenants to pay rent? How will tenants and systems cope with monthly payments in a weekly rent regime? Do you need to adapt your IT or finance system? Do you need to review your arrears procedure? Rent collection

Preparing for UC (3) Who are your stakeholders? How do you build good relationships? Do you have means to share information and learning? What about support to get people into work? Building relationships with stakeholders

Resources Learning from North West Video: Housing association experiences Reports: Universal Credit One Year In, Early learning from the North West pathfinders Tips: Preparing for Universal Credit DWP (Universal Credit and rented housing) Landlord support pack Frequently asked questions Service charge guidance Rent arrears form

Contact Sue Ramsden National Housing Federation 020 7067 1080 Sue.ramsden@housing.org.uk Further information: www.housing.org.uk/welfare Sign up to our newsletter Join us on LinkedIn

Vivian Davies, Director of Rent and Collection, Family Mosaic Organised by: Sponsored by:

25,000 Homes London Get some ideas from the floor £240m Income

Demonstration Project HB Direct Southwark June 2012 To December 2013 500 Tenants 1,500 Southwark

Key Learnings Staff skills Transactions Costs Resource? Technology/Data Preparation – Direct payment Did not know our customers

Negotiating Skills Customer Focus Staff Skills Negotiating Skills Customer Focus Recruitment NB Call Recording Training

Transaction Costs

Focus on pace, low level interventions Technology Texts – in advance as well as chasing Expected Payments Focus on pace, low level interventions

Rent paid = positive rating Big Issue / Experian Rental Exchange Rent paid = positive rating Risk profiling

Preparation & Risk Management Re-engage with our customer Timetable to 2019 so 4 years HB Direct in line with DWP UC rollout timetable

Graham Darby, Head of Customer Service North East, Home Group Organised by: Sponsored by:

Universal Credit – Mitigating the Impact Graham Darby, Head of Customer Service North East

Introduction Home Group, a social enterprise and a charity with a turnover of over £325m, is one of the UK’s largest providers of high quality housing and supported housing services and products. Home Group's role is to provide general needs housing, supported housing services, and home ownership options targeted towards helping some of society’s most vulnerable people take control of their own lives: Home Group houses over 120,000 people a year, managing 55,000 homes in over 200 local authority areas in England, Scotland and Wales. Each year this includes working with almost 30,000 vulnerable people through 500+ supported housing, justice and health services 30

Income Protection: Our Key Themes Protect our Customers and Clients and we Protect Our Income Predict Prevent Manage Recover To help us bring our interventions map to life we have established our Income Protection Programme which focuses on four main themes Predict – ability to predict financial vulnerability and support needs Customer Profiling / Experian / Allocations (I+E etc) Prevent – ability to intervene at the earliest possible stage to avoid arrears and ensure we offer best ways to pay on time Collections Academy / Paperless Anyday DD / CSP – Income Maximisation / Managed Payments / Mobile Payments / StepChange / CAMPAIGN / Allocations Manage – ability to ensure our arrears process is ready for universal credit, managed/alternative payments, switchback Arrears project / Automated Dialler / Prioritisation Model Recover – ability to clawback and recover debts if customers move on Switchback Clawback /

Predict Predict Prevent Manage Recover A theme that provides focus for the business on our ability to predict financial vulnerability and therefore target support and intervention: Profiling of customer segmentation to incorporate better targeting of: Direct Debit campaigns Identification of customers already in financial distress Early warning indicators of customers in danger of increased rent arrears Identification and prediction of where we’re likely to see increased former and current tenant arrears. Changes to allocations processes: I&E assessments Align size criteria with under-occupancy charge criteria

Prevent Predict Prevent Manage Recover A theme that provides the ability to intervene at the earliest possible stage to avoid arrears and ensure we offer best ways to pay on time: Collections Academy – core behavioural change programme Paperless DD Customer Service Partner roles – income maximisation Manage Payments Step Change debt advice partnership Campaign to target colleagues and customers understanding

Manage Predict Prevent Manage Recover A theme that provides the ability to ensure our arrears process is ready for UC Arrears process streamlining Remove wasteful or repetitive processes Prioritisation modelling of arrears activity (80:20) Reduce case stagnation Increase accountability Call to Collect Outbound dials – automation Customer call back through immediate response Text Increased call volume to CSC Reduces FTE demand vs traditional model The problem… 34 FTE working arrears 25% of customers successfully contacted 140k spent on letters following failed contact Generic approach for every customer Solution… Would require 17.3 FTE time to achieve the contact volume that 4.3 FTE colleagues manage Benefits of: Increased customer contact rates Increased payments Increased arrangements Reduced volume of arrears cases, BUT Increased customer complaints

Recover Predict Prevent Manage Recover Provides the ability to claw back and recover debts if the customer moves on: Improved former tenant arrears processes – 2015 Switchback/Clawback processes – now “Rent Arrears” processes

Key Points Fail to prepare, prepare to fail! Collections Academy Customer, Client and Colleague Campaign Roll Out Support Pack for colleagues Income Maximisation roles Partnership with StepChange Debt Charity Managing Your Money Packs including Budgeting & Bank Account Information Paperless Any day Direct Debit Customer and Client Profiling Call to Collect – outbound dialler and texts to reminder of payment due Review of existing arrears process and reporting Commercially caring approach

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS Organised by: Sponsored by:

Closing remarks from the Chair Emma Maier, Editor, Inside Housing Organised by: Sponsored by:

THANK YOU Organised by: Sponsored by: The webinar is now closed A recording of the webinar and slides will be available to download from the IH website shortly Organised by: Sponsored by: