As a result of a technical error, some Direct Debits which were due to be collected from former One Housing Group customers in London, have not come through to us.

We have also realised that some of our customers who receive the housing element of Universal Credit towards the rent and service charges payments, which is usually paid directly to Riverside, has not been received yet.

We’re posting this notification in the spirit of transparency to let you know about the problem as soon as possible, to apologise and to explain how we’ll fix it, without any financial disadvantage to you.

We’re extremely sorry this has happened and we’re working to put it right as a matter of urgency.

We will write to all customers affected by the Direct Debit issue directly to explain the issue in detail and ensure your payments stay on track.

Once we receive the housing element of UC for any customers impacted, this will be applied to customer rent accounts.

The issues

We’re working to make our customer payment process easier for you. One of the steps we needed to take, was to close some old One Housing bank accounts and opening some new ones. In carrying out that work, we’ve experienced a technical error, which has two consequences:

• We didn’t receive Direct Debit payments from former One Housing Group customers which were scheduled between 1 April and 7 April.
• We did not receive all of the scheduled Universal Credit housing element payments which we were due to receive from the Department of Work and Pensions from the 16 March to 31 March, although we have now started to receive some.

How this affects customers

If you are affected by either of these issues, this means two things:

• Because we didn’t receive your Direct Debit, you may receive a notification from your bank to let you know. This also means your rent account will currently be incorrect and will show as being in arrears.
• If you are in receipt of Universal Credit which is paid directly to us by the Department of Work and Pensions, two things may happen.
• The first is that you may receive this money directly; if this happens, please pay your rent by using the automated payment service on our phone number, by logging into your my Riverside account and selecting make a payment or by speaking to a member of the Income Management team using our free phone number 0800 529 8789.
• The other, is that Riverside may receive the money later than anticipated. This will mean your rent account will show as in arrears. We are working behind the scenes to minimise the numbers of customers contacted by texts and letters in this case.

How we’ll fix it

Direct Debits:

We have re-run our Direct Debit process; this means that your payment will be collected on 14 April. That’s the earliest we can do that because of the Bank Holidays and the need to give you the legally required five days’ notice of a change in your Direct Debit. We’ll write to you to give you formal notice of this in line with the regulations around changes to Direct Debit.

Universal Credit housing element payments:

We’re also working with the Department of Work and Pensions to try to ensure we are paid the intended amounts, so this does not affect you. Once received, they will be applied to your rent account to reduce any balance outstanding. Please check your My Riverside account to see when it has been received.

What you can do

If you notice your Direct Debit payment has not been taken, there is nothing you need to do at this stage. We will contact you to explain how we’ll address the issue.

If you have been paid more Universal Credit than you were expecting, please ensure you don’t spend the additional money and pay your rent.

Contact

We will ensure that customers are not financially disadvantaged by this issue. If you need to contact us about the issue or have any questions or concerns, you can contact us on our free phone number 0800 529 8789.