Background
Platform Housing is one of the UK’s largest housing associations, managing around 50,000 homes across the Midlands. Established in 1967, the organisation has remained committed to building better futures through continued investment in homes, services and communities, underpinned by a strong customer-first approach.
The challenge
With a large housing portfolio, Platform Housing was experiencing high call volumes, with many customers contacting the contact centre simply to make a payment. This resulted in longer waiting times, increased pressure on advisors and restricted customers to making payments during office hours only. These challenges highlighted the need to remove the reliance on call-based payments and provide customers with a more convenient alternative.
The solution
To address this challenge, Platform Housing sought to encourage greater use of self-service payments, reducing pressure on the contact centre while giving residents a faster, more convenient way to pay. As a result, they implemented Pay-by-Link, enabling customers to make secure payments at a time that suits them, without waiting on the phone, giving customers greater independence, control and a quicker, more flexible payment experience.
The result
Since going live in February 2025, Pay-by-Link has enabled Platform Housing to collect £2.35 million across 6,850 transactions. Following its launch for Shared Owners in November 2025, a further £40,000 has been collected across 90 transactions, taking total collections to just under £2.4 million.
By removing the need for customers to wait on the phone while payments are processed, Pay-by-Link has significantly streamlined the payment experience for both customers and internal teams. The solution is now embedded across multiple areas of the business, including Rent Officers, Rent Assistants and the Mutual Exchange team, with consistently positive feedback. Platform Housing’s teams describe Pay-by-Link as quick, simple and easy to use, making it a natural fit for day-to-day collections.
The Mutual Exchange team now uses Pay-by-Link to collect outstanding balances ahead of exchanges, while other teams – including Leasehold and Shared Owners – have also adopted the platform. Since implementation, Pay-by-Link has become a core component of Platform Housing’s wider payment strategy.
The impact has been clear, contributing positively to overall collections and rent arrears performance. Today, Pay-by-Link is fully embedded within emails, SMS messages and automated Voicescape communications, helping maximise reach, improve engagement and drive successful payment outcomes.
Carol Daniels, Rent Officer, Platform Housing shared: “I find Pay-by-Link a fantastic tool, especially for customers who struggle to engage due to vulnerabilities or who avoid contact about their debt. Even when calls go unanswered, customers often still make payments using the SMS link. They regularly comment on how handy it is to have on their phone, it’s always available, gives them flexibility to pay anytime, and is much easier to use than other apps, automated systems, or online methods. I use this tool every day and genuinely feel it’s an extremely valuable resource.”
Summary
From a seamless implementation supported by a collaborative onboarding process and regular check-ins with the allpay team, to ongoing, accessible support from a dedicated Client Development Manager, Platform Housing has successfully modernised their payment approach.
The introduction of Pay-by-Link has improved the customer experience, strengthened collections and reduced pressure on internal teams, delivering clear benefits across the organisation. Building on this success, Platform Housing is now exploring the next phased of their payment journey with Pay-by-Link Plus, continuing to enhance flexibility, efficiency and customer choice.
Adele Price, Rent Officer, Platform Housing commented: “Pay-by-Link has been absolutely brilliant. It’s become an essential part of my daily work, and I use it all the time when contacting customers by text and email. The convenience is outstanding – not just for us, but for customers too. The link has genuinely transformed the way I support customers with making payments, and I’ve noticed a real difference in how promptly people respond. It’s one of the most effective tools we have, and I honestly can’t recommend it highly enough.”
