Working through… Income protection and financial inclusion Paul O’Connor Income and Inclusion Specialist Chartered Institute of Housing

Format for this session  Update on financial inclusion – policy and latest developments  Testway Housing – firm but fair approach to income management  Working through – considering your approach to financial inclusion and income management  Q and A  Conclusions

What is Financial Inclusion “Financial Inclusion is where people have access to appropriate and affordable financial products and services, and have the skills and confidence to use them.” Transact National Forum for Financial Inclusion.

The business case for financial inclusion and early intervention –Reduction rent arrears –Lowered eviction rates and court action proceedings –Lower tenancy abandonment –Less unrecoverable debt –Less time spent dealing with residents in crisis –Sustainable communities

Future developments - risks Universal Credit and direct payments 2013 HB and under occupation 2013 Increase in HB non-dep deductions April 2011 Disability Benefits review – PIP Incapacity Benefit changing Greater emphasis on worklessness – work programmes Advice agency funding – review

Future developments and support  £73 million DWP fund to develop and modernise Credit Unions  new Money Advice Service – April 2011  Hyde research on impact of delivering debt advice  Santander research on impact of financial capability  CIH publication on promoting Home Contents Insurance  BIG lottery - £30 million programme to support partnerships working to reduce financial exclusion

How CIH can help… CIH have recently published ‘Improving financial inclusion and capability in social housing’ which is available free at: The Income and Inclusion Service at CIH provides an holistic service offering operational and strategic support to help improve income collection and tenants’ wellbeing. Please see: CIH have developed a HB impact calculator so that you can accurately assess what impact the changes to housing benefit might have on your business. You can plan how to help your tenants and link this in to developing your financial inclusion work. Please visit the CIH stand or see:

Collecting the rent – Testway’s firm but fair approach Elaine Curtis and Jill Field Testway Housing

For our customers and for our businesses we want to  Minimise rent arrears and bad debt  Maximise income  Improve our – customer focus – individual & team performance

Support  Someone always available in office or on phone to discuss with our customers  Home visits (out of hours) offered  Tenancy support offered even before tenancy starts and throughout tenancy  Referrals to other agencies who may assist  Regular contact with CAB, local authority (Homeless & Housing Benefit)  Strong in house tenancy support team  Regular attendance at court user group meetings

Education  Schools around budgeting and conducting a tenancy (12 to 14)  Pre allocation visit  Team Sign up – neighbourhood, income, local authority if necessary  DVD  Tone of voice  Tenancy support

Start as you mean to go on  2 weeks up front or no keys  If you owe former tenant arrears – we decline  Starter tenancies  Escalation policy  Simple colour coded letters (Diversity)  Early intervention - £5.00  Notice at £30.00

Arrangements  L1 (green letter) if arrear of £5.00 or more  L2 (red letter) if arrear of £5.00 or more  Visit / personal contact  Notice / Section 21  NO ARRANGEMENT until a notice /S21 has been served

Maximising income  Any arrangement (if arrear is over £100.00) must be accompanied by financial statement  Escalation procedure identifies broken agreement and suggests next action

After notice / Section 21  If no arrangement or response, system suggests warn of county court action  Visit / telephone call / personal contact  If arrear over £ procedure states we can consider issuing court papers

Court  Possession Claims on Line  Accelerated possession claims  The amount owing on hearing date determines the type of order we request  We will request –Adjournment on current rent plus –Adjournment with liberty to restore –Suspended possession –Forthwith

Breach of court order  System suggests next action  Options –Letter/ visit / telephone call / personal contact  Change order – must make application to court to vary unless postponed possession  If breach continues we will seek authority to evict  Neighbourhood officer and income recovery officer visit property by appointment

 We own and manage approximately 6000 properties  Geographically we have properties in 7 local authority areas: Basingstoke & Deane, Bournemouth, Fareham, Southampton, Test Valley, West Berkshire & Wiltshire  4 income recovery officers, 2 administrators and 1 manager  We answer approximately 3500 telephone calls per month  Responsible for recovery of rechargeable works orders, sewerage charges, telecare charges (basically we chase any money owed to Testway) Stats

Stats cont /6 2006/7 2007/8 2008/9 2009/ /11 Notices Court orders Evictions 13 (33) 12 (41) 9 (23) 17 (43) 10 (29) 11 (30)

Stats cont…  Current tenant arrears as percentage of annual rent role at31 March  2006 – 1%  2007 – 0.93%  2008 – 1%  2009 – 1.04%  2010 – 1.02%  2011 – 1.3%

The tool box Tool Box

Other tools?  Recognise causes  Understand impact on business, customers & communities  Strategy for financial inclusion  Methods of prevention  Practical tools e.g. campaigns; new IT system; targeting estates etc.  Leadership/teamwork  Best practice/benchmarking  Personal & organisational effectiveness

“Success “Is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying the basic fundamentals.” Jim Rohn

Over to you… For discussion in groups: 1.What does your organisation currently do in relation to financial inclusion and arrears prevention? 2.What information do you hold about your tenants circumstances – are you able to profile where the help is needed? 3.Do you plan to change anything within the way you collect income in light of the economic climate? 4.Questions for Elaine, Jill and Paul?

Contact details: Elaine Curtis – Policy and Performance Manager, Testway Housing Tel: Jill Field – Income Manager, Testway Housing Tel: Paul O’Connor – Income and Inclusion Specialist, CIH Tel: