WEST Dunbartonshire Council is to consider splashing out more than £50,000 on a new computer software system that can profile a social tenant's payment behaviour.

Members of the local authority's Housing and Communities Committee will be asked to approve the proposal at a meeting today (Wednesday).

The report to go before members states: "It is recommended that Committee approves the purchase of the RentSense Software initially for 12 months at a one off cost of £52,880, with an option to take a further 12 months at a cost of £43,350.

"Any extension into year two will only be done after an evaluation of the solution’s success at the end of the initial 12 months in supporting the effective management of rent arrears."

It's understood that, since the introduction of the UK Government's Universal Credit, Housing Benefit is no longer paid into social tenants' rent accounts.

As a result it has made local authorities' attempts to collect rent arrears more "challenging."

However, it's also understood that the new computer software being considered will "streamline accurate workload" improve "efficiencies" and lower the cost of collection and reduced arrears.

The report says: "In the current financial climate rent collection is a key challenge facing the Council.

"This challenge is becoming more difficult with the welfare reforms and with the introduction of Universal Credit (UC).

"Housing benefit (HB) payments contribute to approximately 75% of the payments made directly to tenants rent account.

"With the introduction UC, housing benefit will no longer be paid direct to the tenant's rent account and their housing costs will paid directly to them.

"A recent study carried out by PwC (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) on 19 Local Authorities showed that tenants in receipt of UC required three times more contact than other tenants

in relation to rent collection.

"The Housing Regulator had raised concerns on the Council’s level of rent arrears therefore rent arrears are a key element of the improvement plan.

"The Council’s rent collection has improved in the first three quarters of 2016/17 compared to 2015/16 due to streamlining of processes and ensuring early intervention with tenants.

"Officers believe that RentSense is the next step to continuing this improvement and is the leading intelligence income management software.

"It is consistent with a new operational approach to rent collection built around close collaboration between corporate debt, housing and working4u officers."

RentSense currently analyses rent payment patterns for over 1,000,000 social housing tenants, utilising algorithms to analyse payment behaviours, aggregate trends, highlight risk and provide "predictive intelligence."

The report adds: "In order for the Council to continue improving on rent collection and to fulfill the requirements of the improvement plan, we require an effective and

proven arrears management system that prioritises accurate workload based

on analysing individual tenant behaviour patterns and will be fit for purpose

upon the introduction of Universal Credit."

Members will discuss the proposal, along with other agenda items, at their meeting tomorrow in Garshake Road, starting at 10am.