With Access Evo, our AI-powered income management platform, housing providers can now do exactly that - gain real-time visibility across multiple data sources to better understand tenant payment patterns and identify emerging issues earlier.
The result? Earlier interventions, fewer arrears, and more resilient tenant relationships.
Social housing is at a tipping point
For millions, social housing is more than shelter—it’s security in uncertain times. But the sector is under increasing strain. Access PaySuite’s Rental Arrears Index reveals the scale and urgency of the challenge.
Between 2019 and 2024:
- The average number of social housing units in arrears per local authority rose by 17%, from 3,733 to 4,426.
- The average value of arrears increased by 71%, from £1.84 million to £3.14 million.
- The proportion of tenants in arrears rose from 35% to 41%.
This analysis is based on Freedom of Information (FOI) responses from 82 local authorities—representing over one-third of the UK’s council-owned housing stock and more than 1,500 data points collected between 2019 and 2024.
These rising arrears reflect both tenant financial distress and the growing strain on housing associations and local authorities to sustain service levels amidst shrinking budgets.
The regional impact
Arrears are not distributed evenly across the country:
- Local authorities in London are facing the highest levels, with an average of £10.1 million owed per council.
- In Yorkshire and the Humber, the average is £4.8 million.
- Councils in the South East and East of England reported the lowest levels, each under £1 million.
Full regional breakdowns are available in the Rental Arrears Index report.
Sector-wide stress
The pressure extends beyond local authorities. According to The Regulator of Social Housing reported, rent arrears across housing associations reached a record £798 million in 2023, an 8.4% year-on-year increase—the highest annual rise since before the pandemic. This equates to around 5.3% of housing association tenants falling behind on rent.
Between 2015 and 2018, arrears remained steady between £500–£600 million but have climbed sharply since—underscoring the worsening affordability crisis in the sector.
Why traditional forecasting falls short
Legacy income forecasting tools rely heavily on spreadsheets, static trends, and manual oversight. They are:
- Lagging indicators – reacting after payments are missed
- Labour-intensive – consuming staff time with data collation
- Blind to external stressors – such as benefit delays or inflation spikes
This puts housing teams perpetually on the back foot, reacting instead of preventing—and often intervening too late.
Enter Access Evo: Unified, real-time insight at your fingertips
Access Evo changes the equation - not by assigning risk scores, but by bringing together live payment data, tenant engagement signals, and benefits status in one place. This gives housing teams faster, clearer visibility into where support may be needed.It looks at:
- Payment patterns
lateness, frequency, historical trends
- Universal Credit delays
matching tenants impacted by benefit changes
- External stress signals
such as cost-of-living factors or regional hardship trends
- Behavioural data
indicators such as reduced engagement with online services or missed self-service check-insy
By combining these signals into a single, easy-to-access view, Evo empowers staff to focus their efforts on households that may need early outreach—without having to chase data across disconnected systems.
Instead of waiting for arrears to accumulate, these systems use behavioural patterns to predict which tenants might soon struggle to pay—sometimes weeks or even months before the issue materialises.
From visibility to action
Insight is only useful when it drives timely action. Evo helps housing teams translate insight into early, tailored interventions, at scale.
For at-risk tenants:
- Trigger automated, personalised messages (email or SMS)
- Offer flexible payment plans or gentle check-ins
- Flag accounts for officer review or outreach
- Use Access Evo Feed to initiate early support workflows
For low-risk tenants:
- Automate rent collection with minimal staff input
- Free up officer time to focus on more vulnerable households
This not only strengthens financial performance but ensures no tenant slips through the cracks unnoticed.
A new era for income management
Access Evo is part of a broader transformation in housing finance, one centered on intelligent insight, not just automation. In a system where rent cycles don’t align with real-world paydays, and economic shocks can send households into arrears, Evo gives providers a clearer picture of where risk may be developing—and the tools to act before it turns into crisis.
It’s also designed to lift the burden from stretched teams. Intelligent automation in Evo handles the heavy admin -payment reminders, reconciliation, reporting -so staff can focus on meaningful engagement.
The bottom line: Resilience, not reactivity
AI platforms like Access Evo offer the foresight and flexibility housing providers need in 2025 and beyond:
- See potential payment issues sooner
- Deliver support that’s timely and tailored
- Automate repetitive, manual processes
- Strengthen tenant relationships through early outreach
- Balance affordability with operational sustainability
At its core, Evo isn’t just about collecting rent—it’s about protecting people. By centralising key data and making it accessible in real time, Evo helps teams act faster, more fairly, and more humanely.
Now is the time to step forward—from transactions to relationships, and from short-term fixes to long-term resilience.