Time-sapping tasks

When tenants make new or amended claims for Universal Credit (UC), housing providers must verify their information for the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP). This can pose a real challenge during annual rent increases, as Southwark’s Performance Team Leader Karan Sharma explains:

“Each verification would take 5-7 minutes to complete, and the high volumes we deal with in April and May meant hiring temporary staff to meet DWP deadlines. We wanted to find a solution that would help us to work more efficiently.”

Automating key processes

Southwark chose to implement NEC Housing’s UC rent verification tool to relieve the burden of these manual checks. Working closely with our team, they tested the connection to DWP systems and began automating tenancy details checks from January 2025.

The initial benefits were clear, as Karan explains:

“Using this tool for tenancy details checks not only completed the majority in seconds rather than minutes, but it also revealed where the data mismatches were. This meant we could easily identify the issue – which might be as small as a missing hyphen in a name – and either update our system or alert the DWP to the error in theirs.”

Proven at high volumes

In April 2025, when the DWP allowed housing cost claims to be automated, the tool really came into its own.

“We received 12,000 claims between April and May,” says Karan, “and on average, we completed each one within 30 seconds. Manual intervention became the exception, not the norm, which meant we could reduce the number of temporary staff we hired. Next year, we expect to reduce that even further.”

As well as freeing teams to focus on higher-value work, the tool also benefits tenants. In addition to enabling timely verification of their UC claims, it reduces the risk of incorrect data affecting future payments.

Smooth go-live

Initially, Karan’s team reviewed 100% of the tool’s activity to provide oversight. We also worked with them to deliver initial enhancements that built confidence in the process and improved performance. Now, they review only 10%. And with new reporting capability on the way too, the tool is going from strength to strength.

For more information on the services NEC Software Solutions offers visit our website  necsws.com or get in contact with us at marketing@necsws.com.