Income Management Service Standards
This service standard outlines the level of service you can expect from Income Management, and it reflects our commitment to helping you sustain your tenancy.
The Income Management service is responsible for the management, recovery and enforcement of housing related debt. The principle of ‘collecting with care’ underpins the recovery processes and eviction action is taken only when all other avenues have been exhausted.
We are committed to:
- providing excellent customer service every time you contact us
- supporting you to sustain your tenancy through proactive early help and support
- making it easy for you to contact the service to discuss your rent account or financial difficulties
- taking prompt action as soon as you miss a rent payment (based on your payment frequency) or show signs of financial difficulty to prevent arrears from escalating
- working with you in a non-judgemental and empathetic way to understand the reasons for your arrears and to support you at every stage to make sure that arrangements to repay your rent arrears are realistic and affordable based on your financial circumstances
- referring or signposting you to internal and external advice and support agencies, such as Welfare Rights and Citizens Advice, for independent debt and benefits advice
- helping you maintain your rent payments by assisting you to access the additional financial support available, including Universal Credit housing costs and Discretionary Housing Payments
To meet our commitments, we will:
- deliver debt management and basic benefit training to recovery officers within the service
- contact you within your first assessment period if you are a new Universal Credit customer to provide advice and support on managing your claim and housing costs
- contact you within the first month of your tenancy to provide advice and support on managing your rent account
- provide a single point of contact and direct contact number to the service
- provide online resources, which enable you to check all your rent information via MyAccounts
- provide an accessible service, including visiting you at home if you are unable to come to our offices
- provide correspondence, which is clear, concise, free of jargon and outlines the available help and potential consequences of non payment
- respond to your enquiry, within 2 working days of receiving a communication from you or in line with legal requirements
- follow our rent arrears escalation process
We ask you to:
- let us know if you need extra help or support to manage your rent account when you contact us
- provide us with the relevant information we need on your household circumstances including financial information to enable us to make decisions on your tenancy
- contact us if you have a change in your household or financial circumstances
- contact us straight away if you are struggling to pay your rent
- provide the relevant information to the Department of Work and Pensions if you are a Universal Credit customer to enable them to assess your entitlement to housing costs
- contact the relevant department if you have a change in circumstances and are receiving Universal Credit housing costs or Housing Benefit
- pay your rent on time in line with your Tenancy Conditions and in advance to prevent you from falling into arrears