Core Financial Services

LBH is seeking to commission: Accounts Payable (also provided to LBH trading company) Rent accounting Housing Rent Collection (optional) Vision: Our vision for the Accounts Payable: Our vision is to provide an efficient and transparent Accounts Payable service that ensures timely and accurate payments to vendors, suppliers, and service providers. The service should enable service users to self-serve and for automation to be in place where possible. We are committed to transforming payment processes, minimising errors, and ensuring the responsible management of public funds. Processes should be constantly reviewed and continuously subject to improvement. Our vision for Rent Accounting: To maintain clear, up-to-date records for each tenant, providing transparent statements, and ensuring that updates and changes are processed in a timely and accurate manner. To ensure that the service and its processes work effectively and in a joined-up way with the Housing Income service, as well as there being a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the service. Housing Rent Collection: To provide an efficient, accessible, and customer-focused rent collection service that ensures timely and accurate receipt of payments. The service will focus on the maximisation of rent collection. As well as, promptly providing support to tenants enabling them to maintain their rent payments and manage other financial commitments. The service will work closely with tenancy management, benefits and homelessness functions to provide effective, holistic support for tenants, to help sustain tenancies, ensure they get what they are entitled to and to fulfil the Local Authorities responsibilities as a landlord. Current performance Accounts Payable: 96.4% of valid Invoices paid in 30 days of the due date 57,969 Accounts Payable transactions were processed in 2024/25 In 2024/25 58,000 transactions were processed through ContrOCC 138 CIS deductions in 2024/252  In 2024/25, 1,815 new creditor set up and 867 amendments and 67 closures were received by the current supplier Rent Accounting: During 2024/25 rent accounts have taken an average of less than a day to set up  There are 13,933 properties with rent accounts  1,423 new rent accounts were set up in 2024/25  Housing Rent Collection: The KPI target for HRA income collection is 100% and 90% for TA income collection  In 2024/25 the HRA income collection rate has been consistently over 97.65% each month. Throughout the majority of the year the collection rate has been over 98%, apart from January and February 2025 where the collection rate was 97.66% and 97.65% respectively  In 2024/25 the TA income collection rate has been above 92%, exceeding the target, and between May 2024 and July 2024 collection rates exceeded 100%   In March 2025 6,293 HRA households were in arrears, out of approximately 13,000  In March 2025 395 TA households were in arrears, out of approximately 550  The total value of rent arrears, across HRA households and TA, is £9m  Approximately 10% of housing rent collection is via direct debit  Current contract cost Annual core contract cost Accounts Payable: £563k Rent Accounting: £240k Housing Rent Collection: £1.3m Objectives Lower contract cost by min 10% Automation of all reconciliation processes to reduce manual admin  Automated confirmation of payee/supplier to check for a match before a payment is made to reduce the possibility of the wrong supplier being paid  Automation of VAT and CIS deduction calculations to reduce possibility for mistakes and inaccuracies  Increased automation of rent accounting Introduce paperless DD for tenants Reduce rent arrears