Rewarding stakeholders at Irwell Valley
Irwell Valley is an award winning housing organisation that provides homes and services to over 20,000 people in Greater Manchester. Ten years ago the Housing Association faced a major problem – payment levels were so bad that 70% of its tenants were classified as poor payers, costing the association substantial sums of money.
The organisation needed to find a more effective and efficient way to engage its tenants so they established a Gold Service Membership for its tenants and incentive scheme to encourage good behaviour and regular payments.
For each week residents paid their rent on time and abided by the rules of their tenancy agreement, they received one Gold Service ‘point’ worth £1. These rewards were accumulated over a 12-month period and sent to members pre-Christmas in the form of cash equivalent shopping vouchers.
As part of its regular appraisal of the scheme the Association, in consultation with residents, agreed to extend the range of benefits with a combined customer membership and debit card to be introduced to mark 10 years of Gold Service.
Capital Incentives & Motivation, part of Accor Services, worked with the Housing Association to introduce an Irwell Valley branded version of its incentive & reward prepaid card - ‘Compliments Card’. All qualifying tenants now have a branded compliments card. Points are accumulated in the same way for good behaviour and prompt payments. Now instead of posting paper vouchers to tenants, money earned is credited to each individual card in November.
Compliments Card is a multi-store card offering the biggest choice of high street and online retailers than any other incentive card in the market. Irwell Valley tenants are able to spend their rewards across 150 top retail names including Debenhams, Argos and House of Fraser.
Members can choose to spend or save the money accumulating on their cards. Members can check their balance online or via the telephone as well as report lost or stolen cards via a helpline. They also receive a mini statement detailing the points accumulated and the date they are available for spending. The statement also advises members of the amount they could receive if they improve their behaviour over the subsequent 12 months.
The introduction of Compliments Card has proved a great success, giving a huge boost to the Gold Service scheme and helping change the behaviour of many tenants in terms of paying their rent and abiding by the terms of their tenancy agreements. It has resulted in hugely positive turnaround for the organisation – 70% of tenants are now classified as good payers, compared with the 70% of bad payers before the programme.
Nichola Shepard, Irwell Valley's Assistant Director, outlines the impact the programme has had on the organisation. “Capital Incentives & Motivation demonstrated they understood our brand and our commitment to raising customer service standards and expectations. The Compliments Card, which is currently issued to over 5,000 members, offers our Gold Service customers a wider range of options to spend their Gold Service cash back and will assist us in our ongoing drive to recruit new members.”
