Income
Wolverhampton Homes’ Income team provides customers with information about their rents and service charges, where applicable. While communicating with tenants about rent payment – particularly around it being an important part of their tenancy agreement – is important, we also ensure customers receive all the help and support they need if they struggle to pay bills.
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What the team does
The Income team provides a wide range of services, including:
- collection of rent and other charges, such as garage rent, service charges, leaseholder/shops charges
- managing applications for court and dealing with sundry debt, including that owed to Wolverhampton Homes itself
We work with agencies, particularly Children’s and Adults Social Care, to support households who are in arrears, to minimise the risk of defaulting on the tenancy agreement. Our specialist interventions enable agencies to hold a case conference to support the household.
All tenants have access to an Income Officer.
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How this benefits customers
Your rent helps to pay for the delivery of our services and to support the maintenance of your home. Maximising income means we can continue to provide a high-quality service to customers, ensure your homes are safe and secure, and to invest in our communities. In 2023-20224, we collected 99.4% of rent owed to the City of Wolverhampton Council, a total of £95,613,916.
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What customers can expect
All customer contact requests received should be responded to within 24 hours, or the next working day if the request arrives during the weekend or a bank holiday.
Processing/issuing of refunds: once all required information is received, the customer can expect these to be completed within 28 working days.
Rent increases: customers are notified at least four weeks before any changes are made by the City of Wolverhampton Council.
Court proceedings/evictions: we are bound by timelines/dates being provided by the courts. Customers are informed to seek legal advice from Citizens Advice Bureau.
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How we measure success
All teams across Wolverhampton Homes support a rent first approach with our customers – through pre-tenancy work, sign ups and on-going contact with the Income Team.
We are committed to building financial resilience, not reliance, for our customers.
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How we continue to improve
- Low levels of complaints
- High levels of income collection
- Low levels of Court action and evictions – compliance with pre-court protocol to ensure all support has been offered
- Tenancy sustainment
- Early intervention / pro-active approach to debt management
- All arrears letters are hand delivered to customers to maximise contact and ensure Income Officers can offer all appropriate support.
- How the team's work fits within the Consumer Standards