How Birmingham City CouncilEmpowered 10,000 tenantsto save £80k
Project at a glance
Executive Summary
Birmingham City Council, facing rising living costs and the highest fuel poverty rate in England, needed a scalable, low-effort solution to financially support tenants and reduce rent arrears. Traditional support schemes reached just a small percentage of residents and were resource-intensive.
In response, Birmingham City Council partnered with Housing Perks to launch a self service savings app requiring no integration or admin. Within a year, 10,000 tenants signed up, saved £80,000 with no operational burden to the income team.
The Challenge
Birmingham City Council is the largest local authority in the UK, serving over 1.1 million residents.
The city has been significantly impacted by the rising cost of living, with energy prices nearly doubling since 2021 and food prices increasing by over 25%.
These economic pressures have led to a substantial portion of households experiencing financial hardship.
Notably, Birmingham has the highest rate of fuel poverty among English local authorities, with 23% of households unable to afford adequate heating for their homes. Additionally, many social housing tenants are facing challenges in meeting their rent obligations, contributing to increased rent arrears.
With the rising cost of living, Birmingham City Council was seeking cost and resource effective ways to help tenants reduce everyday expenses and improve rent arrears, without adding pressure on Council resources. Traditional financial support schemes only reached around 3% of tenants, and often required complex, resource-heavy administration.
The Solution
Birmingham City Council partnered with Housing Perks to deploy a fully self-service savings app for tenants.
In addition, Birmingham City Council wanted to introduce an innovate new way to help tenants direct pay rent and arrears.
With no integration required, the Housing Perks team got the programme live in two weeks.
The Housing Perks platform meets the Council’s data security and compliance standards, providing peace of mind while enabling tenants to save on essentials like food, fuel, and clothing, all with zero ongoing management required.
Housing Perks offers tenants discounts on their favourite brands and shops, like Sainsbury’s, Asda, Primark, Tesco, Morrison’s and Curry’s, plus many more.
Tenants have been putting their savings towards rent and arrears, enabling the income team to gain arrears they otherwise wouldn't have gotten at no cost to the tenant. In addition, the response from tenants has been positive, with many very happy with the savings they've made.
We’ve been impressed by the ease of rollout and the real impact it’s having for our tenants. Housing Perks is helping people save money where it matters most.
Set up in days not weeks
DAY 1
App launch: no integration or development needed
The Housing Perks app is free to download for tenants. Our app prioritises data security and is compliant with Birmingham City Council's security standards.
DAY 2
Tenant promotion: emails, flyers and newsletters and council website article
The Housing Perks team provides templates, designs and copy which converts tenants to download the app and start saving.
DAY 3
Tenants save on essentials and contribute savings to rent arrears
All with zero extra admin for the Council or development time needed. The Housing Perks team remain on hand to support.
The ImPact
High tenant engagement, measurable impact with no overhead.
The rollout and adoption was a significant success, with 10,000 tenants signing up and saving £80,000.
This rapid rollout demonstrates how Housing Perks can deliver large-scale savings without adding complexity or cost for councils.
I’ve saved £30 on food this month. It really helps.
Tenant stories
Real Stories from
Birmingham Tenants
From reducing arrears to making Christmas more manageable, these are the everyday moments where small savings create real breathing room.
Aisha
£9/wkBetween monthly Universal Credit payments, Aisha reduced her arrears by £55 in six weeks. In one week alone, shopping at ALDI put £27 towards her rent at no extra cost. She now checks the app every week to watch her savings grow.
“It’s fantastic! Quick and easy to use.”Reduced arrears in six weeks
Maria
£10/wkMaria saves about £10 a week on her family’s shopping. The credit she has built has helped her take an extra payment holiday and put more aside for Christmas.
“Amazing.”Building credit every week
Rani
£7/wkUniversal Credit rent payments arriving in arrears had left Rani worried about debt. By using the app for weekly shopping, she now makes regular rent contributions without spending anything extra—easing the pressure and freeing money for other expenses.
Regular rent contributions
Aamir
£8/wkAamir uses the app to reduce his debt and bridge the gap between monthly payments. Since the rent contribution feature launched, he has moved £75 of savings into his rent account and has been recommending the app to family and friends.
Savings paid towards rentReady to get started?
See how Housing Perks could help your tenants, with zero admin.
Request an info pack and get started today
Security and compliance
Protecting our social landlords and their tenants is our highest priority
Housing Perks is certified by HM Government backed Cyber Security Essentials scheme for both standard and plus. All our data in stored in the UK on Google Cloud services, with the highest levels of encryption available. Housing Perks is registered with the Information Commissioners Office.
