How Caseload Manager helped Stonewater reduce debt by £1.37m

Social Landlord, Stonewater owns and manages approximately 39,000 homes across England, with over 82,000 residents. As one of the largest providers in the UK, their vision is “for everyone to have the opportunity to have a place that they can call home”.  

Amidst challenging economic conditions, Stonewater analysed their customer base and identified that 28,500 of their households were struggling financially. Indeed, 66% indicated that they were “just managing to make ends meet”. Naturally, this led to challenges around income management and an increase in arrears.

Stonewater realised that the legacy income analytics product was increasingly no longer fit for purpose as the team struggled to work through the excessive caseloads it was presenting and provide the right levels of support. So, they sought a solution that could help their team take back control, drive efficiencies in their income management processes and tackle the growing arrears – that’s where Voicescape Caseload Manager came in.

The Challenge

From 2023 to 2024, Stonewater saw a significant increase in the number of customers receiving means-tested support with their housing costs – with around 49% receiving full support. Stonewater’s previous income analytics product was presenting around 4,000 cases each week, 400 allocated per officer, but with little or no intelligence as to which cases needed officer intervention. As a result, only half of cases were being looked at each week, with the team becoming steadily demoralised and disengaged.

Further detailed analysis showed that 25% of Stonewater’s total cases actually required no action. This important finding suggested an unnecessary and time-consuming burden on top of what was an already over-stretched team, that was relying on manual calendars and inefficient processes to manage growing caseloads.

Stonewater understood that a different approach was needed to take the strain away from their income team and get on top of the increasing number and complexity of cases. They wanted a way to see only those cases that required intervention, with categorised and prioritised cases based on their risk profile. So, they went into the arrears management software market to look for a best-in-class solution - a process that introduced them to our award-winning technology, Caseload Manager.

The Solution

 After working closely with Stonewater to create a solid business case, we were able to set a challenging target to reduce gross debt by £1m within 12 months​ and an overarching aim to equip colleagues with a best-in-class tool and drive up the quality of tenant engagement. We also collaborated on other key objectives which included reducing wasteful outbound contact, ensuring all cases that require an intervention receive one, catching debt accruing at the earliest stage, and preventing customers slipping through the net due to inaccurate recommendations.​

Following implementation, Caseload Manager’s AI analysed and identified the risks associated with each customer to present only those cases that Stonewater’s income officers ‘needed’ to see, segmenting them into ‘no action required’, ‘action required’, and ‘automated contact’.

“Voicescape worked closely with us to understand our approach, data and customer needs in order to make a business case that was tailored to us. It’s about giving a good team what they need to make an impact.”

– Dave Lockerman, Director of Housing Operations at Stonewater

Automated outbound engagement through Voicescape’s integrated Collections solution was employed only for cases where that method would have the greatest chance of success. This freed up valuable time for Stonewater’s income team to focus on the more complex cases that were best suited to further action and human intervention. Ultimately, we introduced a robust, reliable and data-driven solution that helped their team prioritise support to those who need it most.

The Results

 At the time of writing, Stonewater’s officers now actively manage around 115 cases each manually – a huge 71% reduction in workload from the previous 400. They are also seeing a 50% conversion rate of customers calling the income team following an automated outbound contact about their rent account.

Caseloads are now far more manageable, Stonewater’s team feel more positive, and they have achieved a 0.7% reduction in gross debt to the tune of £1.37 million!

“Before Voicescape, our case overload was demotivating for colleagues and we were aware of a real risk of customers slipping through the net without the support they need. This solution has given the team the tools they need to do the job, achieving a step change in the way we deliver caseload management. Our income team is now equipped and enthusiastic, better supporting customers and bucking the trend in a difficult climate to reduce arrears.”

– Dave Lockerman, Director of Housing Operations at Stonewater

The Future

Following our successful collaboration and the positive feedback from their income team, Stonewater are looking at new ways in which they can harness our product suite to support their wider customer base. This includes the intelligent integration of self-serve payment links with Voicescape technologies via our partner allpay – further utilising the intelligent combination of texts, automated contact and digital payments to increase engagement and reduce arrears.

Stonewater have already started on this journey with their shared ownership customers, with plans to roll this out across leasehold, FTAs and supported housing next. If you’d like to join the growing community of social landlords bucking the growing arrears trend, then get in touch today!