Voicescape will launch a breakthrough income recovery solution for social landlords and local authorities in April 2025, representing a major step change in the way unsecured debt from tenant repayment agreements is managed across the sector.
Agreements Manager has been developed by the specialist software business in partnership with customers, to enable social landlords to comprehensively manage, track and optimise failing tenant payment agreements in a more controlled, active and lower risk way. The aim is to reduce break rates, lower the cost of managing agreements and improve the financial outcomes of organisations and tenants.
The first-of-its-kind solution combines behavioural science, predictive analytics and artificial intelligence (AI). It provides complete visibility and risk profiling so a landlord can draft and track an agreement that is both suited to the tenant’s needs and in alignment with the organisation’s financial KPIs and objectives.
The launch follows the transformational success of Voicescape Caseload Manager – revolutionary technology that allows social landlords to assess a range of long- and short-term risk factors, to make intelligent predictions about individual rent arrears cases.
Gary Haynes, managing director at Voicescape, said: “Although repayment agreements are put in place with good intentions to help social landlords flexibly recover arrears over a period of time, data shows us that the vast majority of agreements fail. This consistent trend has resulted in debt remaining uncollected – only being tackled if and when it’s manually identified and a new recovery approach is implemented.
“Informal or court mandated repayment agreements are used by many social landlords to recover arrears that have built up. They’re a key recovery tool in the sector. When they function as intended, repayment agreements are an effective way of managing debt and meeting regulatory requirements to provide flexibility and support to tenants. However, the real challenge with agreements is that the system support to establish robust agreements, manage them over time, and detect when they start to drift, is simply inadequate.”
According to research carried out by Voicescape, 25-50% of arrears debt is typically tied up in tenant repayment agreements, with the average agreement valued at £700 and scheduled to run for two-and-a-half years. Even more concerning, most agreements break within 3-6 months with a failure rate often in excess of 90%.
Agreements Manager uses dynamic risk profiling to customise instalment amounts and repayment durations for each tenant; provide behavioural insights and data analytics on real customer behaviours, allowing providers to consult with tenants and formalise agreements effectively. It also automates messaging and alerts to maintain optimal tenant engagement and reduce recovery costs, while accurately predicting and monitoring the status, progress and performance of each agreement at an organisational level.
Gary added: “Voicescape is delivering truly innovative capabilities into the hands of housing professionals, with measurable benefits for organisations and the communities they serve. Agreements Manager provides a new set of functionalities that no other system offers to better manage repayment agreements, helping to reduce more debt with less risk, empower teams and tenants, and improve financial outcomes for everyone involved.”
Voicescape works with more than 80 registered social housing providers and local authorities across the UK, empowering them to connect with their communities at scale across various critical touchpoints, including rent collection, customer satisfaction feedback, gas and safety checks.
Its technologies combine machine, automation technology, behavioural insights, and data science to create bespoke communication solutions that help public service organisations drive substantial operational efficiencies and service improvements.
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