Evaluation of an early intervention reminder to reduce rental arrears in social housing: randomised controlled trial

Last registered on April 19, 2016
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Evaluation of an early intervention reminder to reduce rental arrears in social housing: randomised controlled trial
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0001172
Initial registration date
April 19, 2016

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
April 19, 2016, 5:45 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Charlotte Price
Affiliation
University of Warwick
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Katie Moore
PI Affiliation
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2015-11-23
End date
2016-04-30
Keywords
Welfare
Additional Keywords
Social housing, Universal Credit, SMS
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Welfare reform in the UK provides new challenges for social housing providers and their tenants. The implementation of Universal Credit (UC), which replaces Housing Benefit (HB), means that rather than housing providers receiving rental payments directly for those receiving HB, and thus bypassing the tenant, tenants will instead receive a lump sum monthly payment into their bank account and must manage their rent and other outgoings themselves. Some of these customers are the most vulnerable in society and may have difficulty budgeting, particularly on a monthly basis. This poses a challenge for housing providers in meeting income collection targets, but also in ensuring that, as 'social landlords', the most vulnerable tenants are supported in managing their finances.

This study will evaluate a simple intervention to maximise income collection in a single social housing provider in the UK.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Moore, Katie and Charlotte Price. 2016. "Evaluation of an early intervention reminder to reduce rental arrears in social housing: randomised controlled trial." AEA RCT Registry. April 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.1172-1.0
Former Citation
Moore, Katie and Charlotte Price. 2016. "Evaluation of an early intervention reminder to reduce rental arrears in social housing: randomised controlled trial." AEA RCT Registry. April 19. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1172/history/7734
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention is an SMS rent reminder message sent to the tenant before the rent due date:
- Weekly customers: single SMS reminder 24 hours before rent due date
- Monthly/4-weekly customers: SMS reminder sent one week before rent due date and again 24 hours before rent due date
Intervention Start Date
2015-11-23
Intervention End Date
2016-04-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The primary outcome of interest is the ratio of total rent paid over the study period to total rent debt.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
This is a parallel two-arm randomised controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of a simple intervention for maximising income collection in social housing.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomisation undertaken using Stata version 14.
Randomization Unit
Individual.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
2198 people
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Intervention: 1099 people
Control: 1099 people
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Humanities and Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee (University of Warwick)
IRB Approval Date
2015-08-18
IRB Approval Number
114/14-15
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials