Six months on from PayPoint's Smart Income: Breakfast & Networking Event, the conversations that took place around the table remain as relevant as ever. Bringing together housing sector leaders, payment specialists and PayPoint housing clients, the event provided a valuable opportunity to discuss the changing payments landscape, share experiences and explore new approaches to income collection.
To mark the success of the event, we're pleased to share a new highlight video featuring reflections from attendees, client speakers and members of the PayPoint team, capturing the key themes and outcomes from the morning.
Hosted at the stunning Adelphi Building, overlooking the Thames and major London lamdmarks, in April 2026, the Smart Income event was designed to encourage open discussion amongst housing providers about one of the most critical areas of their operation: income collection.
For many organisations, payment systems have often been in place for years, sometimes more than a decade, without a comprehensive review of whether they continue to meet the needs of modern residents. As customer expectations evolve and digital payment technologies continue to advance, housing providers are increasingly evaluating how they can improve accessibility, efficiency and resident outcomes.
The event offered attendees the chance to hear directly from peers who had already been through that transformation journey.
Learning from Real-World Experience
A key focus of the morning was hearing first-hand from housing providers that had recently modernised their payment infrastructure through PayPoint.
Guest speakers Paul McGovern, Head of Collections Operations and Transformation at Peabody Trust, and Rob Thompson, Strategic Lead for Rent & Income Services at Thirteen, shared their experiences of transitioning to PayPoint and the impact this has had on income collection within their organisations.
Their candid accounts highlighted an important message for attendees: changing payment providers can appear complex and high risk, but with the right support and implementation approach, the benefits can significantly outweigh the challenges.
The client presentations generated engaging discussion and an interactive Q&A session, with attendees keen to understand how their peers had approached migration, adoption and ongoing optimisation.
The Power of Collaboration
One of the standout themes from the event was the value of bringing together professionals facing similar challenges.
Housing providers continue to navigate increasing financial pressures, evolving resident expectations and growing demands to improve operational efficiency. Events such as Smart Income create a valuable forum for sharing experiences, discussing best practice and learning from successful projects already delivering results elsewhere in the sector.
The feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive, with many commenting on the value of hearing directly from organisations that had already undertaken payment transformation projects.
Our new roundup video captures some of the key moments from the morning, including reflections from attendees and client speakers, alongside insights from the PayPoint team on why organisations are reassessing traditional payment approaches.
The video provides a snapshot of the conversations that took place and the positive engagement generated throughout the event.
Following the success of the inaugural Smart Income event, PayPoint will be hosting another housing-focused networking session in the new year.
While digital payments, Open Banking and payment modernisation will continue to be important topics, the next event will place a particular emphasis on one of the most significant challenges facing the sector today: debt management and resident support.
Housing providers are increasingly looking beyond traditional arrears management approaches and exploring how data, payment behaviour insights and modern technology can help identify potential issues much earlier in the customer journey.
The discussion will focus on how organisations can take a more proactive approach to supporting residents before debt problems escalate, helping to improve outcomes for both residents and housing providers alike. Topics are expected to include affordability, vulnerability, early intervention strategies, payment intelligence and the role that modern payment and Open Banking solutions can play in supporting financial wellbeing.
Join the Conversation
The housing sector continues to face new challenges and opportunities as payment technology evolves. By bringing together sector leaders, practitioners and innovators, Smart Income aims to provide a platform for meaningful discussion, knowledge sharing and practical insight.
We look forward to welcoming both returning attendees and new organisations to our next event and continuing the conversation around the future of housing payments, income collection and resident support.
To learn more about PayPoint's housing sector solutions and keep up to date with future Smart Income events, get in touch with our housing experts today.