5. Rent First - income collection campaign
As part of the business driver to ensure maximum rental income is collected, the Group ran a ‘Rent First’ campaign towards the
end of 2015. The campaign highlighted the importance of paying rent but had a wider purpose which included encouragement of a
positive payment culture and building stronger relationships with customers around money.
Over a defined two week period, colleagues worked from offices, in neighbourhoods and in local community venues to talk to
customers about rent. The successful campaign saw an additional income of £167,408 collected. The dialogue with customers and
their families also achieved increased payments across 136 direct debit accounts and another 80 new direct debits were set up for
direct rent payment. These accounts and the contacts established during the campaign are being closely monitored and on-going
dialogue with the customers is being maintained.
The campaign exemplifies how the Accord Group’s evaluative approach focuses on both the impact on the organisation as well as
on customers. The social value evaluation looked at how far the campaign achieved the following outcomes:
For the Accord Group:
n Increased income (short term)
n Progress towards a positive payment culture where residents take greater responsibility for payment of rent (longer term)
For customers, the short-medium term outcomes identified were:
n Increased knowledge of rent accounts, budgeting, money
n Increased awareness of financial products and services
n Increased stability of tenancies (feeling less at risk of eviction)
n Change in perception of Accord Group as landlord.
Financial Statements 2016
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