We’re excited to announce the integration of the Money and Pension Service (MaPS) Debt Advice Tool into Xantura’s OneView platform. By embedding the Debt Advice Tool directly into OneView, Local Authorities can automate and streamline their processes for debt management and welfare advice, significantly increasing the capacity of their advisers and caseworkers. This new feature also enables Local Authorities to provide comprehensive and collaborative Debt and Welfare Advice services.
Challenges that Local Authorities are facing
Local Authorities are under growing budget pressures and maximising their Council Tax collections is crucial for maintaining economic stability. At the same time, the dramatic rise in demand for Debt and Welfare Advice services places Local Authorities under unprecedented pressure to meet the needs of their vulnerable residents.
Local Authorities use various siloed systems and tools for their debt management and welfare advice processes. These lead to inefficiencies across councils and limit the delivery of the best outcomes for both councils and residents:
- Advisers must spend time on manual and repetitive tasks, such as transferring data between different systems and tools.
- Different teams have a partial and fragmented view of each resident. Coupled with the distinct objectives of each team in the council, this often leads to varied and conflicting recommendations for residents.
- Siloed systems and tools impede communication and collaboration between departments, making it challenging to provide a scalable, consistent, and holistic service to residents.
Holistic Solution for Debt and Welfare Advice
Xantura and Inbest have integrated the MaPS Debt Advice Tool into Xantura’s OneView platform. OneView is a Data as a Service platform that ingests and matches structured and unstructured data from across Local Authorities and wider partners (e.g. police, health, etc.), creating a holistic and single view of each resident. The MaPS Debt Support tool is an open-source application designed to digitise and streamline Debt and Welfare Advice processes using the Standard Financial Statement (SFS) and the Inbest Benefits Calculator.
The Debt Support Tool introduces the following features and benefits to the OneView platform:
- Streamlined Processes: The integration automates the SFS and Benefits Calculator population with the data available in the OneView platform, minimising the need for advisers to manually transfer data. This increased efficiency frees time for caseworkers, boosting their capacity to support more residents.
- Comprehensive Advice Provision: Advisers can get a detailed view of residents’ financial situation and wider circumstances by incorporating the data available in the OneView platform with information governance controls embedded at every stage. The Debt Support Tool ensures that councils deliver consistent service and adhere to industry best practices, such as completing the SFS and offering an income maximisation service, all from the same platform.
- Enhanced Collaboration: Different teams within councils, such as Council Tax Collection and Welfare Advisers, can now work together more effectively on the same case. They can select debt solutions that balance increasing revenue for the council by providing sustainable financial agreements and income maximisation for residents.
- Collaboration with Local Support Agencies: Once implemented, the OneView platform can also be extended to support a wide range of agencies including homelessness prevention, community safety, supporting families and demand reduction on Adult Social Care.
How to get involved
The Debt Advice Tool is already available on the OneView platform for immediate use. We invite Local Authorities to reach out and learn how we are supporting them in improving the delivery of debt and welfare advice services. Contact Tom at Xantura or Manu at Inbest to schedule a demo of the Debt Advice Tool in the OneView platform.