Housing body gets update of payment software

Glasgow Housing Association (GHA), the largest registered public landlord in the UK, is installing a payment and charging system to handle financial transactions from its 70,000 tenants and 23,000 privately-owned properties.

The £300,000 Anite Housing software system will manage service charging – or factoring, as it is known in Scotland – as well as payments for repair and maintenance activities.

Mags Lightbody, managing director of the GHA, says the existing charging system had to be adapted to meet the association’s requirements, but is now coming to the end of its life and is no longer providing the flexibility required.

‘The lack of adaptability within the system means that any changes required are difficult, expensive and time-consuming to implement,’ said Lightbody. ‘The system is also limiting our ability to deliver the standard of customer excellence we aspire to.

‘Moving to a new system means we can make enhancements to meet our working requirements, and the ability to do easy ad hoc reporting will result in a better level of service to the customer,’ she said.

About 50 users at the GHA’s headquarters will use the charging system for functions including answering queries from owners and updating information with new work.

For public users, the system will create a single point of contact for information and provide them with fully supported access to user groups and discussions on how the product could be advanced, said Lightbody.

‘The package also has the facility to have enhancements built into it to suit our requirements, with less cost than having a bespoke system developed,’ she said.