Rent arrears management practices in the housing association sector

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Table 5.5 – Debt counselling provision Transfer Non-transfer All HAs Debt counselling by rent arrears No 69 57 126 staff % 57 .0% 55 .9% 56 .5% Debt counselling by in-house No 39 26 65 specialist debt counselling staff % 32 .2% 25 .5% 29 .1% Debt counselling via informal No 90 81 171 referral to external agency % 74 .4% 79 .4% 76 .7% Debt counselling via formal referral No 65 61 126 to external agency % 53 .7% 59 .8% 56 .5% Responding associations No 121 102 223 % 100 .0% 100 .0% 100 .0% Source: Online survey Note: Because respondents could opt for two of more approaches, figures do not sum to column totals . Distinct from welfare benefits advice is the role of debt counselling for tenants in serious arrears . Typically, associations made available such help both via in-house staff and through referrals to external agencies (see Table 5 .5) . In the 2004 ODPM research 108 it was noted that “referral to an external agency” might, in many cases, involve no more than providing a tenant with the contact details of an independent 68 advice provider . This was quite distinct from a “formal referral” where a housing manager took responsibility for contacting the agency and booking an appointment for their client . In some cases, such arrangements have been made within the context of formal contracts . More than half of responding associations reported operating a “formal referrals” system and although there is no direct historical comparator, this would appear to indicate a significant increase in this kind of 108 Pawson, H ., Flint, J ., Scott, S ., Atkinson, R ., Bannister, J ., McKenzie, C . and Mills, C ., (2004), The Use of Possession Actions and Evictions by Social Landlords, London: ODPM http://www .communities .gov .uk/publications/housing/203568
Table 5.6 – Staff training provision Whether training routinely provided for rent arrears management staff on… Transfer Non-transfer Total …Housing Benefit eligibility rules and No 103 90 193 calculation % 84 .4% 87 .4% 85 .8 …Debt management No 79 69 148 % 64 .8% 67 .0% 65 .8 …Mental health awareness No 63 43 106 % 51 .6% 41 .7% 47 .1 …DWP deductions No 59 54 113 % 48 .4% 52 .4% 50 .2 …Court procedures No 108 87 195 % 88 .5% 84 .5% 86 .7 Responding associations No 122 103 225 % 100 .0% 100 .0% 100 .0% Source: Online survey Note: Because respondents could opt for two of more approaches, figures do not sum to column totals . arrangement . However, the scale of such activity (eg volume of referrals) and its precise nature (eg contractual relationships) cannot be judged from these data . Case study research would be required to explore such issues further . To what extent is rent arrears management a “professional service”? One key factor here is training provision . The vast majority of associations reported that relevant staff were routinely trained on HB rules and on court procedures (see Table 5 .6) . Debt management training was made available as standard practice by two thirds of responding landlords . However, only around half routinely trained their staff on DWP deductions or on mental health awareness, both of which are key elements required of landlords by the PAP . Rent arrears management practices in the housing association sector 69
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Rent arrears management practices i
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Contents Executive summary . . . .
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Executive summary Introduction This
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Key underlying factors were said to
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could, in part, reflect the growing
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overpayments and suspensions were p
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Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Backgrou
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arrears management and related aspe
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“… there may occasionally be ci
Page 19 and 20: under Article 8 of the Convention,
Page 21 and 22: y HAs . 37 The Circular informed as
Page 23 and 24: Pre-action protocol for possession
Page 25 and 26: The purpose of these interviews was
Page 27 and 28: Table 1.1 - Case Study HAs Organisa
Page 29 and 30: Chapter 2 Rent arrears management p
Page 31 and 32: Pawson et al’s study found that 9
Page 33 and 34: 2.3 Rent arrears management practic
Page 35 and 36: this with any certainty . 69 Howeve
Page 37 and 38: authority can also lead to a lack o
Page 39 and 40: 2.5 The use of Ground 8 Although th
Page 41 and 42: In the Hunter et al study, 97 which
Page 43 and 44: some comment on the effect of the P
Page 45 and 46: • Ground 8 provided certainty to
Page 47 and 48: There was a difference of opinion a
Page 49 and 50: 3.3 The use of Ground 8 Whereas ans
Page 51 and 52: do so early enough, or at all . Cla
Page 53 and 54: Chapter 4 Rent collection and arrea
Page 55 and 56: 4.3 Housing Benefit service perform
Page 57 and 58: Table 4.3 - Housing association evi
Page 59 and 60: As shown in Figure 4 .1, CORE data
Page 61 and 62: were collected for landlords with l
Page 63 and 64: Most associations report initiating
Page 65 and 66: 5.2 Organisation of rent arrears ma
Page 67 and 68: Table 5.2 - Primary structure of ar
Page 69: Table 5.3 - Recent changes in organ
Page 73 and 74: Within the transfer landlord cohort
Page 75 and 76: • Where arrears were accrued befo
Page 77 and 78: Table 5.9 - Estimated percentage of
Page 79 and 80: elatively high response rate achiev
Page 81 and 82: The survey sought to collect statis
Page 83 and 84: Ground 8 actions typically accounte
Page 85 and 86: How is the scale of Ground 8 use ch
Page 87 and 88: already routinely exercising the ac
Page 89 and 90: Chapter 6 Case study evidence Chapt
Page 91 and 92: Annex 2 outlines our method, includ
Page 93 and 94: a couple of weeks to three months)
Page 95 and 96: to officers and policies . Officers
Page 97 and 98: RM put it, “caused uproar from te
Page 99 and 100: preferred form of the organisation
Page 101 and 102: tenant contacts are now recorded on
Page 103 and 104: as a result, would make an order un
Page 105 and 106: use - in these cases, it is viewed
Page 107 and 108: g) The tenant perspective In each c
Page 109 and 110: Ground 8 was generally to scrutinis
Page 111 and 112: Ground 8 was said to be used as a
Page 113 and 114: The key stakeholders regarded the P
Page 115 and 116: ule it would not be used where HB w
Page 117 and 118: Table A1.1 - Evicted households by
Page 119 and 120: uncontactable as a result) . Where
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Just under half of all cases in the
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Annex 2 Case study HA selection Our
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Annex 3 Profile of case study housi
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However, after a review across its
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as developing joint working with th
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Annex 4 Case study topic guides HA
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19. What has been your recent exper
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12. How are your tenants helped wit
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9. If RSLs rely on Ground 8, what i
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4 Tenant employment circumstances (
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10 Value (£) of arrears at defined
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Our offices Maple House 149 Tottenh
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