As a Local Authority do you know the financial situation of your Customers?
Imagine if you knew which of your outstanding debtors could pay but refused to, or for those that can’t pay. With information like this you could tailor their pathway accordingly.
Our profiling software solution, can categorise Local Authority customers into three segments:
Those that are financially stable.
Those that are paying non priority debt.
Those that are experiencing financial hardship and possibly vulnerable.
With this information you are able to tailor the customers debt recover pathway accordingly. We can cleanse your existing data and provide template letters for you to use which will help increase collection rates or early engagement.
What does this mean for your Local Authority?
One example of a Local Authority that heavily benefitted from utilising our Vulnerability Profiling, within the first three weeks, they had collected £200,000 in outstanding Council Tax payments, which otherwise would not have been collected.
They also collected 99% of council tax debt that was profiled as financially stable, the main reason for this was due to the wording in the initial letters that were sent to the customers.
Another Local Authority had improved results for
Letter response rate.
Letter collection rate.
Full payment.
Arrangements and attachments.
Fewer cases referred to enforcement.
Further benefits for Vulnerability Profiling
The past two years have been difficult for everyone, COVID-19 has affected so many people, businesses and Local Authorities.
There are more individuals that are now in hardship and vulnerable, whether this is temporary or a more permanent situation, but Local Authorities also desperately need the revenue to be able to support their customers.
We have proven data from Local Authorities that show that a tailored pathway dependant on circumstances has an increased collection rate and an increased engagement rate.
Customers that are vulnerable, are not usually in that position through choice. With the standard collection letters they were more likely to put their head in the sand and ignore them. If they receive a letter from a Local Authority that is tailored to their circumstances, advising that they understand, they may be in financial hardship they are more likely to engage. This allows the Local Authority the opportunity to support them and signpost them to relevant debt charities that can help them.
But it doesn’t just help with those customers that are in financial hardship, it also helps with the customers that are able to pay but refuse to. Having a dedicated letter for these customers, advising that you know they are able to pay, has also had a proven increased engagement with first contact letters.
Cleansed data + tailored letters = higher engagement rate and increased debt collection.
Ascendant Solutions – We don’t just provide data.
Call us today on 01302 543157 to book your demonstration or complete our short contact form.
“Ascendant Solutions have created a real-time bespoke solution through significant advances in data sourcing and analytics to understand customers in much greater depth than ever before. With this insight, you can ensure customers are being treated fairly in line with what the data is saying and not the single route of old. The correct level of support can be put in place before the customer becomes financially distressed.”
Mark Fearn
Walsall Council