As Local Authorities start redeploying staff back into their pre-Covid roles, a large scale ‘stock-taking’ exercise is currently underway at many Councils. Revenues and Benefits teams in particular, are reviewing projects that had been put on hold and are assessing which of those are most likely to fill funding shortfalls and help meet remaining targets for the year.
Property inspections as a means to generate revenue
This is one of the many reasons we believe we are starting to see a surge in interest in technology solutions such as property inspection tools. Destin Solutions has recently signed up another five councils to use their Aspire property inspection module and company Director Duncan Baxter comments “We have been having a lot of conversations recently about not only achieving efficiencies for our customers through automation of property inspections but identifying how these tools can be used to generate revenue. This is predominantly being achieved through more effective monitoring of new property developments, conducting empty homes reviews and identifying if discounts and exemptions are still applicable.”
Dealing with inspection and visit backlogs
For many Local Authorities, property inspections and visits virtually came to a standstill during the height of Covid restrictions. This has created a backlog of work to be done in this area and is another factor driving interest in this technology. The fact that solutions like Aspire are increasingly cloud based and accessible through secure online web portals, allows for a speedy implementation with very little involvement and support from a Councils IT department. This is a big selling point, as many IT departments find themselves swamped with a number of projects and initiatives hitting them all at once, as normal business resumes. Property inspections and revenue teams however will not be constrained by this and can get up and running with the technology fairly quickly.
A tool to manage and field customer property enquiries
Property inspections technology is also increasingly being used as a customer and resource management tool. Ellie Hawkins, Revenues Team Leader at Surrey Heath Borough Council comments “Aspire Property Inspection has proven to be a useful time management tool, we can easily check where inspections have most recently been carried out, where next inspections are planned and as a reference tool for customer enquiries. Destin Solutions have people who understand the process around revenues and property inspections, and this has translated into a solution which enables our staff to provide quicker, more informed responses to resident and development enquiries as well as more transparency and accountability.'
Identifying fraud and error
The technology is increasingly being used across multiple revenues’ areas including; Council Tax, Housing, Housing Benefits, and Business Rates. Adur & Worthing Councils for example, are using Aspire to capture information related to small business rates relief, identifying whether the property is empty or indeed if it has been occupied so the claim for small business rates relief would in fact then be valid. They are also using it to ensure that their valuation lists are maintained and monitored by identifying whether any alterations are required.
It has also been used by Reigate & Banstead Borough Council to conduct tenancy reviews in Margate and Ramsgate in partnership with Oxford City Council’s fraud team on behalf of a large housing provider, to ensure that properties were not being sub-let.
A recent survey of Aspire property inspection users identified that 67% of users are saving admin time using the solution and 83% noted that the ability to hold all information related to inspections in just one system was the most useful feature. Users are keen to see the solution develop further, and plans are under way to integrate an optional route optimisation tool.
Route optimisation capabilities
In what we believe may be one of the first solutions of its kind, Aspire will combine route planning to get Inspectors and other staff conducting visits, more quickly from ‘A to B’ in conjunction with achieving the optimal outcome from that visit. For example, if visiting a specific individual, the system can identify specific times of the day or week when occupants have not been present in the past, to calculate the likelihood of the occupant being home on the next attempted visit and updating the itinerary accordingly.
Conclusion
As Authorities get a better understanding of the many different areas that property inspection technology can be applied to for revenue generation, we believe the appetite for this type of solution will continue to grow. This will be aided by the relatively low cost of web-based solutions available, the efficiency gains being demonstrated by current users and the relative ease with which this technology can be implemented.
Find out more about Aspire Property Inspections technology at https://www.destin.co.uk/aspire/aspire-property-inspection-module/
