Isle of Anglesey County Council selects RentSense

Isle of Anglesey County Council has selected RentSense to help them mitigate welfare reform and tackle the effects of Covid on their arrears.

The Housing Services’ rent team were battling the impact of Universal Credit prior to lockdown, and management were looking for solutions, as Ned Michael, Head of Housing Services for the council explains:

“We were looking for ways to improve our collection rates, reduce arrears, mitigate the impact of Welfare Reform and increase efficiencies within the housing section.”

The majority of the council’s peers in the region have also invested in RentSense including Flintshire and Denbighshire councils, this enabled Ned and his team to see the system in action and speak to users about the solution.

We spoke to Flintshire County Council and saw how they used the system. The users’ opinions were very positive about RentSense, and it was evident the system was helping them reduce their rent arrears,” explains Ned.

Aerial shot of Isle of Anglesey (Source: Copernicus Sentinel data (Sep 2019) courtesy of ESA & NASA)

Prior to selecting RentSense Anglesey Council looked at other potential solutions, but none were able to demonstrate the impact of reducing arrears and delivering efficiencies across a number of providers.

It was decided that RentSense offered the most complete package. We are also deploying the ‘texting module’ to provide an additional method of engagement to customers.
Ned Michael, Isle of Anglesey Council

Covid has impacted many social landlords and their tenants, and this is true of Isle of Anglesey too, and for many organisations it is critical they can protect their revenues, as these fund vital services, but also identify those tenants who may be struggling to pay rent so they can offer their support.

“Coronavirus has had a major impact on the ability of some tenants to pay rent and the arrears levels on Anglesey have increased as a result. What’s more tackling rent arrears can be repetitive but having a product such as RentSense provides a new way of working for staff to inspire and improve working practices where it is needed, as well as freeing up more time so they can support those tenants affected. Concludes Ned.

“We understand how important it is for councils to support their customers in such difficult circumstances. So, we are looking forward to deploying RentSense at Anglesey to help them offer that support to residents.” Commented Paul Evans, Director at Mobysoft.