1. The purpose of this technical note is to provide elected members with further detail on the rent arrears position detailed within the Audit Scotland report and specifically the difference showing as a percentage increase.
2. The Audit Scotland report referred to an active rent arrears position of £1,347 million at February 2021 and compared this against a rent arrears position of £0.791 million at 11 April 2020. Within the context of the report this showed that rent arrears had risen by 41% over this period. However, the £0.791 million actually refers to the year-end outcome for active rent arrears for 2019/20, showing that the target of £810,000 was achieved, this was pre the Covid-19 pandemic.
3. The active rent arrears figure of £1,347 million referred to in the report was the position at week 45 during the financial year 2020/21. The rent arrears figure for the same period at week 45 of 2019/20 was £1,102 million. This is a more comparable reflection on variation as rent is only charged over 48 weeks of the year, with 2 weeks of no rent charge at Christmas and then again at the financial year end. Therefore, patterns for weekly arrears positions will show increases against previous year end outcomes. Comparing week 45 rent arrears figure from 2020/21 against 2019/20 shows an increase of 18%, this is a more accurate percentage increase for the rent arrears position, with the impact of the pandemic having contributed significantly to increasing rent arrears.
4. For the financial year 2020/21 the active rent arrears target was set at £815,000. This was set at the start of the financial year, early on in the first lockdown and was reflective against a target achieved and surpassed during the previous financial year. This target has since been reviewed for financial year 2021/22 and has increased to £950,000.
5. There was a 7% increase in former tenant arrears from 11 April 2020 (£1.645 million) to February 2021 (£1.776 million). The Housing Service acknowledges that the target of £450,000 requires to be adjusted to a more realistic figure.