Local authorities in Scotland owed £3.5 million in rent arrears

Public sector payments specialist Access PaySuite, part of the Access Group, created the Rental Arrears Index by submitting Freedom of Information requests to local authorities.

The analysis shows that local authorities providing social housing are owed on average £3.1 million per authority in rental arrears across the UK. Scotland was found to have the fifth highest level of rental arrears based on the local authorities that responded.

London was found to have the highest level of rental arrears. On average, local authorities in the capital are owed more than double the average of any other region across the UK. Authorities in Yorkshire and the Humber are owed the second largest average amount in rental arrears, just under £5 million.

North East England, the West Midlands and Scotland all fall into the top five, and have seen the highest levels of arrears since 2019.

Authorities in South East England and the East of England were owed the least, on average, with less than £1 million owed per authority in the region.

Commenting on the findings, Alex Common, Divisional Director, Product and Engineering, Access PaySuite, said:

“Social housing budgets have been squeezed significantly over recent years. On top of this, the cost of living crisis has caused real difficulties for many people to meet their living costs, whether they rent their property from their local authority, a housing association or a private landlord.

"If we apply our representative sample across the 221 local authorities which own social housing, the total value of rental arrears across local government could be as high as £650 million.

“For local authorities and housing associations in Scotland, this creates a challenging balancing act between affordability for tenants, while meeting costs for their own essential expenditure requirements. Alongside rental arrears, local authorities are also spending significant amounts of time chasing overdue council tax payments, all of which is adding to their operating costs.

“Finding a long-term solution to the challenge of rising arrears is a complex challenge. However, in the meantime, there are important steps that local authorities can put in place to support their tenants and make rent collections as simple as possible.

“At Access PaySuite, we understand that housing associations' and local authorities' priorities are to deliver high quality services and drive better public sector outcomes for all their customers, citizens and communities. This includes providing accessibility, financial inclusion and a great customer experience as well as choice and flexibility in ways to pay, which marry affordability with cost effective payment collection, whether that's face to face, by phone or online."

To explore the full findings and learn more about the financial position of Scotland’s social housing landscape, see the complete Rental Arrears Index https://www.accesspaysuite.com/rental-arrears-index-2024/