Adapting to change in Income Management Stephen Jackson – Income & Charge Manager Harvest Housing Group

Ethos Turning homes and neighbourhoods into places where people want to live and choose to stay We set our vision in 1999 and it is still right today

Harvest Housing  Based in the north west  18,500 properties from north Staffordshire to Cumbria  Group Structure with 4 stock owning subsidiaries  Wide range of products: social rented, extra care, shared ownership/equity and market rent

Former Tenant Arrears  Most frequently quoted strength/weakness in audit commission reports  Identified that return from agencies was low – most expect to get approx 14% of debt passed on

Harvest Approach  Dedicated in house team – initially started as a pilot  Robust procedures for tracing/contacting former tenants  The process starts before the tenancy ends – workflow to FTA team to talk to customer before the tenancy ends  Use of tracing products to find former tenants – most effective 8 weeks after the tenancy has ended – re-establish credit history

Current Performance  Total FTA £490,436 – 1.1% of debit  Collection to in-house to date £200k  190 cases £174k passed to DCA where unable to find or no response at address - £37k cash collection to date, 21% collection rate  In house team excluding cases passed to DCA 63% collection rate

How we did it  Early contact – before keys handed in  Use relationship with former tenant to address issues  Incentives of up to 50% for lump sum payments.  Only use DCA where unable to trace or collect ourselves

FTA Cash Collection

Group Performance 2009/10 OrganisationCollection Rate Arrears % (GN & SS) FTA % (GN & SS) Harvest Group overall %2.77 %0.78% M&D99.97 %2.97 %0.90% D&S100.1 %1.98 %0.48% Frontis101%1.71 %0.48% Moorlands98.74%3.59 %0.68%

Income Collection – next steps  Greater emphasis on tenancy sustainment – including those not in arrears  Continuous Improvement culture – always looking to develop to meet changing needs of customers  Customer profiling is key – the more you know about customers the more you can help  Greater emphasis on enabling independent living  Group wide commitment to financial inclusion – using champions model to ensure plans meet local needs

Welfare Reforms – preparing for change

Universal Credit

Preparing for change  Working with partners to identify those effected by 12 month JSA rule, working age under occupation and non dep deductions  Emphasis on independent living – preparing customers for changes by developing financial products and literacy packages  Through profiling identify those with vulnerability issues and develop services to support them

Any Questions ?