Our research suggests:

• Up to half of landlord arrears are tied up in unsecured repayment agreements
• Nine out of ten of these arrangements will fail to complete
• Landlords struggle to measure, monitor and report on the financial risk associated agreements
• Ineffective agreement processes drain valuable officer time and normalise indebtedness amongst tenants
• Most existing housing management systems fail to provide adequate support for effective management of agreements.

A more structured approach to agreements management would:

• Increase collections and reduce arrears
• Release officer time to focus on quality conversations and priority cases
• Help normalise rent-first behaviours
• Strengthen tenant relationships
• Build sustainable tenancies
• Reduce overall financial risk.

This fast-moving, interactive workshop will cover:

• Learnings from best practice in other sectors
• Using behavioural science to improve agreement effectiveness
• Shared learnings from other income collection professionals
• Interactive session to co-create improved approaches.

The key questions we’ll address are:

• Why do so many agreements fail?
• How could we adapt our processes to increase agreement completion rates?
• How could digital technology and AI improve agreement management?
• How can we better measure and monitor agreements?

12:00pm Introduction and The Sector Challenge

• Gary Haynes, Managing Director, Voicescape

12:10pm H2H overview

• Paul Hickman, Professor of Housing and Social Policy, Sheffield Hallam University

12:25pm The opportunity: the potential of agreements

• Steven Johnson, Independent Behavioural Insights Advisor

12:30pm The behavioural science of repayment agreements

• Steven Johnson, Independent Behavioural Insights Advisor

12:40pm A best practice framework for improving agreements management

• Steven Johnson, Independent Behavioural Insights Advisor

12:45pm Shared learnings

• Gary Haynes, Managing Director, Voicescape

• Steven Johnson, Independent Behavioural Insights Advisor

• Paul Hickman, Professor of Housing and Social Policy, Sheffield Hallam University

1:25pm Summary

• Gary Haynes, Managing Director, Voicescape

1:30pm Close

Gary Haynes, Managing Director, Voicescape

With an unwavering passion for innovative solutions, Gary understands their transformative impact on the lives of clients, teams and customers. He is committed to harnessing the strengths to bring even more value to Voicescape’s customers and advance the mission of making a positive difference in the world with technology.

Paul Hickman, Professor of Housing and Social Policy, Sheffield Hallam University

Paul is Professor of Housing and Social Policy at Sheffield Hallam University where he is Deputy Head (with responsibility for research) of the Sheffield Institute of Social Sciences. He has expertise in a range of subjects including tenant participation in the social and private rented sectors; the impact of welfare reforms, including Universal Credit on both landlords and tenants; housing benefit; and ‘resilience’ to economic hardship. He has particular expertise on the drivers of rent arrears and tenancy sustainment, an area which he has been researching for nearly 15 years. He led (with Kesia Reeve) the ‘Holding on to Home: tenancy sustainment in social housing’ study, which recently published its final outputs.

Steven Johnson, Independent Behavioural Insights Advisor

Steven has 20 years of experience at the intersection of behavioural insights, data science and human-centred design. In 2014 he launched one of the UK’s first specialist behavioural insights consultancies which he grew and sold in 2019. Focusing on income collection, public health and sustainability, he pioneered the use of behavioural insights in local government and social housing, leading over 40 randomised controlled trials. In 2021 he founded an in-house behavioural science unit at Burson, the world’s largest PR/comms agency, where he developed a proprietary framework for behaviour change. Steven also served as an non-executive director for D&AD, promoting behavioural science in advertising and design. His work has earned recognition from D&AD, IPA, DBA, Cannes Lions, and the German Design Council. A peer-reviewed author and speaker he has presented globally on behavioural science and its applications.

If you are unable to attend an event or public training course, please let us know in writing via email or letter at least 48 hours beforehand. Please email [email protected]

Otherwise, a cancellation fee of £60 plus VAT will be chargeable.

If you are using a package place to attend and do not inform us within the agreed time frame, then a place will be taken to cover your non-attendance.

Cancellations must be made in writing, and will be acknowledged by HQN Limited.