A council has announced plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) to help its 18,000 tenants from falling into rent arrears.
The system, which Stoke-on-Trent City Council hopes to procure, would be used to spot who among tenants are facing financial hardship so they can benefit from earlier intervention.
The proposed AI programme will cost the authority £210,000 a year, but is expected to create around £430,000 in savings, through increased revenue collection, reduced recharges to the general fund and a drop in bad debt provision.
Cabinet members will be asked to back the plan on 19 May, and comes after a report said the current housing management system was “no longer fit for purpose”.